Order of the Phoenix: I'm Right Here
by lordtrayus
Summary: Following Percy's letter to Ron after becoming a prefect, Ron offers a hurt and angry Harry some comfort. But this sets off a previously unsuspected chain of events as Umbridge tightens her grip upon Hogwarts and tries to target Harry in particular. Set during order of the Phoenix, it starts as a friendship story and becomes a bit drama and slash as it goes through the school year
1. Friendship

**Disclaimer: I dont own Harry Potter**

Right Here

Harry stormed up the stairs, simmering in rage as his temper flared, trying to ignore the feeling in the back of his throat, his anger keeping his hurt at bay for how long he didn't know. He hammered open the door to the dormitory, heedless of his three sleeping roommates and he crossed to his own bed, wrenching shut the curtains around his bed, that horrible feeling in the back of his throat. He wasn't about to cry, he wasn't about to cry...  
The three of them had been sitting in the common room, Harry and Ron trying determinedly to finish their Astronomy essays (Harry's had been fine except for thinking one of Saturns moons was populated by mice) when Hermes, Percy Weasleys screech owl had come to the window with a letter for Ron. The letter had been Percy congratulating Ron on being made a prefect. If it was only that, Harry wouldn't have bothered, even though he, like the rest of the Weasley children and Hermione, thought Percy was the worlds biggest prat for walking out on his family and cosying up to the moronic Ministry. He also could have accepted Percy believing, as his head was up his arse, that Umbridge was a delightful woman (the fact that she was a bureaucratically empowered tyrant who believed her precious Fudge's line that Voldemort wasn't back and could possibly rival the Dark Lord himself as one of the most evil beings on the planet). But then they had gotten to Percy's warning  
Percy, a stickler for rules and lover of authority, had congratulated Ron on being made a prefect, and had had a sly dig at Fred and George in the process. His love of power and authority had led him to walk out on his family. And now, believing that the Ministry was correct and that Dumbledore was trying to destabilise the Ministry, and that he, Harry, was an attention seeking tragic hero, Percy, under the guise of looking out for Rons future prospects and believing that Ron should follow his example, was now encouraging Ron to, what was it, 'sever ties' with Harry, who he claimed was unbalanced, unstable and most likely violent.  
Harry had tried to hide how much it hurt. Being who he was, rumours and whispers followed him wherever he went. Since he had come back, students had been mocking him and talking behind his back, about him and about Voldemort being back. He'd already had arguments with several others, including Seamus, and he was severely sick of people calling him an attention seeking liar  
But Percy, he was different. He had stayed at the Burrow with Percy, he had hung out with him, he'd saved his sister from the Basilisk, he'd had Percy encourage him for his course choice and support him during Quidditch, they'd been together at the World Cup, and now, now Percy, Rons older brother was encouraging his brother to dump Harry as a friend for his own greater glory.  
And now Percy like the rest of the wizarding world, had turned on him and was trying to make his best friend do the exact same thing.  
The anger had subsided somewhat now, and all that was left was a crushing hopelessness. And then, unbidden, he remembered that time last year when Ron had stopped talking to him, and he was suddenly filled with despair. What if Ron listened to Percy? What if he too turned on him? What if he realised that being around Harry would destroy him like it had his parents and Cedric?  
Harry sniffed and waved his wand at the curtains, sealing himself off from the others and he wrapped his arms around his legs, and in the absence of anger, he felt tears flood his green eyes and as another wave of depression slammed against him, he succumbed and let the tears flow

XX

"I don't believe him!" Ron stormed, hammering his fist on the window which broke, and he looked at it sheepishly while he heard Hermione sigh reproachfully behind him  
"Ron...Reparo." She said flicking her wand and the window repaired itself and she got up, taking Rons hand and giving it the once over to check he wasn't bleeding.  
"Did you see his face?" Ron asked softly and she looked up at him, the cloud of worry that had overtaken his face, and she nodded sadly  
"Yes. I don't know how he can stand it." She whispered, rubbing Rons inflamed knuckles soothingly as she did so and he chewed his lip looking thoughtful.  
"That's the thing I don't reckon he can. He's...im worried about him Hermione." Ron mumbled and she let go of his hand, looking at where Harry had headed up to bed  
"Go." She commanded simply, a small smile on her face  
"What?" He asked her, looking confused, and she kissed his cheek proudly  
"Go to him. He needs you. Go." She encouraged and he looked at her nervously.  
"Are you sure? Don't you think he wants to be alone?" He asked worriedly, and her face clouded for a second  
"I think he thinks that. Mainly because of those blasted relatives of his. But he doesn't and right now, it's you who he needs. Go." She encouraged and he gave her an odd look but went anyway  
Hermione looked at his retreating back with a small sad smile. Yes, she reckoned Harry did need Ron right now. He might be an insensitive wart with the emotional range of a teaspoon and an over fondness for food, but he knew his best friend needed him  
No, he knew his little brother needed him  
And she couldn't be prouder of him  
With a last fond look at where Ron has vanished, she headed for bed herself, praying Ron could do what needed to be done to convince Harry that no matter what it looked like, he wasn't alone

XX

"Harry?" Ron asked softly as he entered the dormitory, and he felt his heart pang as he heard a sniff that was most definitely his best friend crying and trying not to show it  
Cursing his older brother under his breath he stole across the room and gently opened the curtains around Harry's bed, wincing as he saw Harry, his arms wrapped around his legs, sniffing as tears fell from his eyes  
"Harry." Ron whispered climbing onto Harry's bed and closing the curtains and hesitantly reached a hand out (with the mood Harry was in these days there was quite a high chance he could lose his hand)  
"I'm fine forget it." Harry muttered, trying to pull away but Ron shook his head stubbornly  
"You're not fine Harry. You're sitting up here crying, and I know it's my idiot brothers fault. Come on talk to me." He wheedled and counted it as a victory that Harry lifted his head up, and Ron felt a fresh surge of hatred for Percy as he saw the tears and hurt glimmering in Harry's eyes  
"So you reckon you're going to do it? Sever ties with me I mean?" Harry asked, determinedly not looking at Ron, trying to hide the fact that he was scared, terrified even, that Ron would say that he too was doing that and abandoning Harry  
Ron let out a sad sigh, and he moved up the bed. And before his nerve failed him, and before Harry's volatile temper kicked back in, he reached an arm around Harry's shoulders and brought him into a hug, allowing himself a small smug smirk when Harry didn't pull away and seemed to be melting into it despite himself  
"Harry, you listen to me. You're my best friend in the world you idiot. And what's more, you're worth a hundred of that stuck up, pompous, self righteous, Ministry loving, power hungry moron! I'd rather go into whatever fresh hell you get us into every year with you than sit in the Ministry with him." Ron whispered fiercely and Harry sniffed, wriggling a little in Ron's grip, but Ron simply held his friend tighter, not letting him free, because he knew that at the end of the day, Harry had had enough of feeling alone  
"So..," Harry mumbled, and Ron grinned, shaking his head  
"No way. Not a chance in hell." He vowed and Harry gave him a small, watery smile  
"Thanks Ron." He whispered quietly and Ron gave his friends shoulder a squeeze  
"And besides," Ron said with a smile, nudging Harry with his shoulder, "if I was going to walk out on you don't you think I'd have done it before now? I mean look at first year, you're a bad influence you are. Three headed dogs, massive chess pieces, You-Know-Who sticking out the back of people's heads, I mean you're trouble walking. And I'm still here." Ron told him and Harry emitted a small snort of laughter and even better stopped trying to get away from Ron  
"Thanks Ron." Harry said softly, and Ron hugged him tightly, leaning his head against Harry's  
"You're welcome. And to hell with Percy. You're more my brother than he is." He growled and Harry looked at him, strangely touched  
"Ron..." He whispered, but Ron shook his head  
"I mean it Harry." He insisted loyally and a warm, glowing feeling spread through Harry's chest  
Occupied with this as he was, he didn't even notice at first as Ron gently used his thumbs to stroke away the evidence of Harry's tears, but a second later it occurred to him that Ron was sitting on his bed with him, hugging him, wiping away his tears, and making him feel more cared about and loved than anyone had in a while, and it felt damn good  
"You ok?" Ron asked softly, and Harry nodded a little, and hesitantly laid his head on his friends shoulder again, and allowed himself a small, triumphant smile when Ron began to gently run his fingers through Harry's hair  
"Thanks." Harry whispered, and Ron smiled, feeling quite pleased with himself  
"Anytime buddy." He said and the two of them sat there in companionable silence, Harry melting into Ron's embrace, his head snuggled on his friends shoulder, Ron soothingly stroking Harry's hair and realising that Harry was starting to fall asleep in his arms  
Ron briefly considered getting up and going to his own bed, but Harry hardly slept well at the best of times, and he was quite warm and content in his best friends arms, so didn't see any point in ruining that. Ron laid down on Harry's bed, careful not to disturb Harry too much, and to his relief, and slight delight, Harry merely made a small noise in his throat and he cuddled into Ron more, his head lying against Ron's chest as he slept soundly  
Grinning a little, and feeling quite proud of himself, Ron slowly removed Harry's glasses, and brushed his lips against the top of Harry's head before getting himself a little comfier, and drifted off to sleep himself, Harry still snuggled up securely in his arms having been shown he wasn't alone

 **As Harry Potter fever has made a welcome return and due to the long flight home from America, and reading other Harry and Ron fanfics brings you this story which could lead to more but I'm not sure yet**

 **hope you enjoy and please read and review!**


	2. Kindling

**Disclaimer: I dont own Harry Potter, or I wouldnt have to work with people who believe there are 34 days in august...ive had a long day**

Right Here II

"He…did… _what_?" Fred snarled at breakfast the next morning, his hand shaking in anger, and Ginny, scenting danger, quickly intervened before her eldest present brother upended the table in his rage.

She and Hermione had come down to breakfast first, Hermione informing her of what had happened the previous night on the way, which had prompted Ginny to start yelling furiously about Percy (to the great disgust of Professor Sinistra, who had been trying to have a lie in, and had emerged from her room looking rather grumpy and docked ten points), and upon the arrival of her twin brothers, she had wasted no time in vilifying Percy, with Hermione's help naturally.

"Perfect Percy my perfect freckly arse." George sneered, mashing his scrambled eggs with unwonted venom, and Hermione sent him an odd look.

"You have freckles on your bum?" she asked, and he stuttered a little as Ron and Harry appeared, immediately driving thoughts of George having a freckly bum from Hermione's mind (though she did make a mental note to return to that topic later, she loved when she got one up on the twins and flustered them).

"Morning." Fred said, casting a proud look over Ron, who replied with a dubious look, as though fearing Fred being proud of him couldn't bode well for something later on in the day, which to be fair was a reasonable assumption.

Hermione was studying Harry intently, but on the whole he looked better than he had the last few nights. She too flashed Ron a proud smile, which freaked him out all the more, and he responded by hastily gulping down some sausages, clearly fearing that the twins were up to something.

"You ok Harry?" Ginny asked, her brown eyes narrowed, the same twin like malice roiling in them, and he nodded, though did look a little miserable at the question.

"You told them?" he mumbled at Hermione, and she nodded, breathing deeply through her nose as she did so.

"Yes Harry, I thought the situation required minds such as theirs." She said sweetly, though the look on her face was anything but, and Harry allowed himself a small grin as he saw the raging fire in her eyes.

"Really?" he asked, feeling strangely touched that Hermione would ally with who could only be considered her arch frenemies just for revenge on Percy, and Fred scowled, his eyes glinting dangerously.

"Hermione might be as boring as watching paint dry," he began, and she gave him an indignant look, while Ron and Ginny both seemed to develop suspicious coughing fits, "but she's one of us. She might be trying to stand in the way of our peaceful commerce and emulate mum, but she's got your back buddy. We all do." He promised, and Harry gave him one of his now rare genuine smiles.

With that settled, and as George was constantly cutting his bacon into tiny pieces then stabbing them viciously, clearly imagining Percy's face on top of them, Ron chewed a bit of sausage before regaling his siblings with the information about the letter.

"So his letter was nice enough at first. He was congratulating me on becoming a prefect, following in his footsteps, oh and not taking what he called the Fred and George route by ignoring responsibility." He told them and watched as both twins scowled even more than they already were due to their brother's slight on Harry.

"Oh he did did he?" Fred growled and Hermione and Harry exchanged grins.

"Well from there he gave me all this guff about how Dumbledore and Harry are liars and nutters, and how mum and dad's loyalty should be to the ministry, and we're rubbing shoulders with criminals and it's all going to blow up in our faces." Ron explained, and all three of the other Weasleys glowered darkly, and it was clear that, as Hermione had hoped, they were building up a head of steam that would soon be exacted in revenge against their older sibling.

"And then my favourite bit, the bit about encouraging Ron to sever ties with me and stop being my friend because I'm unhinged and violent." Harry said in mock cheer, eating his scrambled eggs, and Ron hesitantly squeezed his wrist as he watched his best friend contemplate his eggs.

The twins and Ginny were simmering in rage, but to everyone's surprise it was Ginny who mastered her temper first.

"He is the world's biggest git." She said in a voice of forced calm, and Ron nodded.

"I said that." He said, looking pleased that she agreed with his take on the matter.

"Well we all know what Harry's like. How he likes to off muggle borns, pop off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his pet basilisk," Fred said, grinning, and George took over

"He's building an army by making friends with Hagrid and Lupin, is a deranged attention seeker but that's all just a clever ploy, because he's clearly the real big bad out there. You-Know-Who has nothing on this bloke." He finished, and was rewarded for his efforts by a small smile from Harry.

"He's about as dangerous as Neville." Fred concluded, and Harry grinned, and Ron snorted in amusement.

"Probably less, just ask Professor Flitwick what happened to him last year when he was teaching us Banishing Charms." He told them, though he did feel slightly uncomfortable, after all, he had walked out on Harry the previous year when his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, but Harry didn't appear to have reacted and Ron was in no hurry to relive that particular incident.

"Well, Harry's evil plot to assume control of the wizarding world aside," Hermione said pointedly (she'd seen his marks, they were fairly safe, she thought with wry amusement), "I take it we aren't going to let this one go?" she asked, her eyes dancing with angry fire, bringing them back to their original point.

She had gotten on rather well with Percy for the last four years, their only major disagreement being over Winky's fate. Indeed, in some ways she got on better with him than she did with Ron, who drove her right round the twist and seemed to delight in doing it. But his letter last night, his casual condemnation of the same person who had saved his younger brother and sister countless times over, along with his arrogant dismissal of his parents and other siblings and his arse licking attitude, they had driven her over the edge. She was in fact surprised that the twins hadn't exacted some form of revenge against Percy before now because of what he had done to their parents, but now, after describing what Percy had said in his letter, it seemed like the twins and Ginny had reached the end of their tether. Harry's hurt and haunted face had dogged her dreams all night, and she was so sick of the wizarding world screwing over her best friend that it was time to do something, anything, just to give him a little bit of a boost.

"You sure you want to dismiss Harry's plot to take over the world Hermione? I mean it could turn out very well for you, you could lead the charge with your army of liberated house elves, you and Kreacher would be best of chums." George taunted with a smirk, and she sent him a cold smile.

"Please George, as if I'd need an army of house elves. I'd just send the freckly bummed Weasley twins to fight my battles for me." She snarked back, and the others all laughed.

"Ok, so we're agreed on doing something about Percy then?" Fred asked, not at all liking the idea of Hermione being the power behind Harry's throne, that would be scary, and the others all nodded.

"Guys, listen, you don't have to…" Harry protested, but Fred shook his head stubbornly.

"Harry, you're more our brother than that obnoxious prat. He was a total git, he upset you, and he's about to learn that you do not screw with our little brother. Especially when that little brother took down You-Know-Who, fought him in person, saved our sister from a gigantic glaring snake, and told everyone he was back and is trying to save the wizarding world. He pays." He concluded simply, and Harry looked round at them all, feeling the love and loyalty flowing from them and he had never felt more at home, or humbled in his life.

"Thanks guys." He whispered gratefully, and Ron grinned, nudging him slightly with his shoulder before turning to his older brothers.

"So what do you reckon? I was thinking some bubotuber pus would be a good place to start." He suggested, and Hermione's eyes widened in malicious delight.

"Ooh, I like that, yes, let's do that." She encouraged and Ginny grinned.

"If the rest of the world knew the real you Hermione, they'd be appalled." She teased, and her friend sent her a mock glare, while the twins toasted Ron with their goblets of pumpkin juice.

"What was it you did to that guy in your dormitory?" Harry asked, grinning as he considered the numerous punishments they could inflict on Percy, and George grinned.

"Oh yeah, bulbadox powder, that should be easy enough." He exclaimed excitedly, and looked across to see Hermione writing these things down.

"You're unbelievable you are." Ron said in amusement, and she shrugged, before nodding to herself.

"Howlers of course." She muttered, mostly to herself, but Fred nodded along with her, his face dreamy.

"Yes with a little help from what we've been doing on our fireworks, that ought to make quite the mess. Speaking of, we'll need some dragon dung. Hey you reckon Hagrid has any skrewts left?" he asked hopefully, and Ginny blanched.

"That's a bit harsh even for Percy, those terrors running around. Who should do the yelling in the Howler?" she asked, and the Weasleys and Harry all looked at each other while Hermione took notes religiously.

"You should, you're pretty scary." Harry concluded, and she opened her mouth to thank him, then thought about it, giving him an uncertain look.

"Not quite sure how I should take that Harry." She muttered, and he grinned.

"That's good. We could put some of one of our secret concoctions in it too George." He said, now running up steam, and George looked at him curiously.

"Which one?" he asked, and Fred grinned.

"The one with the frogs."

"Oh that one, good idea, that means we can stick in a few bars of frogspawn soap with a few enchantments on them, make a real mess of his nice new flat." He spat bitterly, and the twins continued in this vein for some time, with the suggestions becoming steadily more worrying, at least from the point of view of the Hogwarts professors as to what fresh hells could await them this year.

XX

"Ron? Are you ok?" Harry asked worriedly, while they sat through another Divination lesson, where Professor Trelawney was attempting to teach them the meanings of their dreams, which Harry most of all found totally pointless as all his dreams involved the graveyard where Voldemort had returned.

"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine." He replied, and Harry sent him a strange look as they returned to their copies of the 'Dream Oracle', Harry sending Ron a slightly odd look as they continued with their work.

To tell the truth, while Ron felt perfectly alright, there was something slightly, well different. He had woken up this morning with Harry cuddled up to his chest, sleeping peacefully which made a change, he'd seen him all the time at Grimmauld Place, sleeping restlessly. But this morning, it had been different. He had been very aware that Harry, his best friend, was curled up beside him, sleeping quite peacefully and that they had both slept together all night. That wasn't what was on Ron's mind though. What was on his mind was how ordinary, how right it had seemed.

He'd woken first, which was strange for him, he and Seamus were usually the latest risers in the dormitory, Harry and Neville were usually the first ones up. But his eyes had been immediately drawn to Harry, a sliver of light coming through the curtains and falling upon his face. Harry had been lying there, his arm wrapped lightly around Ron's chest, his head resting in the crook of Ron's shoulder, his face still a little pale from his lack of proper sustenance at the Dursleys and lack of proper sunlight at headquarters. His hair was messy, sticking up like it always was, sticking everywhere as though he had just run his hand through it. It took Ron a while to notice that he was gently stroking Harry's hair and that it felt like the most natural thing in the world. It just felt, right, him lying there with Harry in his arms wrapped around him, Harry's breath gently tickling his neck as he slept peacefully.

But while it felt natural, there was something else that Ron had to consider, the fact that his jeans felt rather tight beneath his robes. But that was crazy, he'd known Harry for five years, and never once had he ever been attracted to him. He'd seen Harry in all sorts of different ways, even naked a couple of times in the showers after Quidditch, and he had never once felt anything for him like this before. But now, something was different, he had had Harry wrapped around him all night and now, something was blossoming inside him, and he couldn't help but imagine now what it would be like to have Harry cuddle up to him again, sleep beside him, and his mind treacherously drifted, imagining what it would be like to run his fingers passionately through Harry's hair, press his lips hungrily against those of his best friend, hear Harry moan his name…

"You are clearly in the beyond! Come my dear, you were on the verge, what did you see?" Professor Trelawney asked excitedly, descending on their table, and Ron caught a brief glimpse of Harry looking at him, his expression torn between concern and amusement that he had just been jerked out of his fantasies.

"Um, well um, I was seeing…"

"That's it my dear, focus your mind to see past the mundane, and you can see further than any before you in this room!" she said excitedly, and the enthralled glances that Parvati and Lavender usually reserved for Trelawney became scowls as they looked at Ron expectantly.

"I see…" he began, trying not to look at Harry, who was trying and failing to keep from laughing, "a large pink toad," he invented wildly, "torturing children," he continued, and Harry's look of amusement turned to one of anger, his eyes glinting in warning, "and…and going up against a lion who is going to kill it." He invented and slumped in his seat, hoping it would be enough for Trelawney to get off his back, and he chanced a look at both Harry and Trelawney.

Harry's green eyes were narrowed to slits and Ron could tell that if this went wrong he would suffer for his false predictions. The rest of the class looked vaguely amused, but to his slight surprise, Parvati and Lavender looked slightly impressed. Edging a glance at Trelawney, to his surprise, she looked suitably impressed.

"You are perhaps seeing, as we intend to in dream divination, in symbols! The symbols present hidden meanings my dear boy, and you may be able to decipher these meanings and symbols for a true glimpse into the future. Excellent my boy, ten points to Gryffindor!"

When the class left the room half an hour later, laughing about Ron's 'prediction' Harry grabbed Ron's wrist and dragged him into an alcove, his green eyes blazing angrily, and Ron was suddenly aware that he had to suppress a desire to want to drag Harry into an alcove for something other than a telling off. Harry was right in front of him, it would be so easy to lean in and kiss him…but he brutally suppressed that urge as Harry started his rant.

"Are you crazy? I told you it's bad enough that she's doing it to me, I don't want anyone else involved, you already told Hermione and now you're telling Trelawney!" he snapped, and Ron reached up and took Harry's chin gently, looking at him apologetically.

"Harry I'm sorry, but you know what Trelawney's like, she's too oblivious to know what I was really meaning, none of them are, and they won't know it's you either. Besides, it's not like her and McGonagall are best of friends, and McGonagall would think it's some false prophecy she's made anyway. I'm sorry Harry she cornered me and it was the first thing I thought of! The woman's evil and she's torturing you, and I'm sorry but I'll never be ok with you getting hurt." He insisted and Harry let out a defeated sigh and Ron released him, but Harry did look slightly upset.

"I suppose." He mumbled, and Ron nudged him with his shoulder.

"It's not like I was wrong, McGonagall would kill Umbridge if she knew what she was doing, she'd go apeshit. I'm sorry Harry." He wheedled, and Harry let out a defeated sigh and followed Ron from the alcove, with Ron trying not to lose himself in thinking about what else they might have been able to do in that alcove.

As they headed towards Defence Against the Dark Arts, where Hermione had given Ron the job of making sure Harry didn't earn himself another detention with the evil old tyrant, Ron kept thinking about all these treacherous thoughts that he was suddenly having about his best friend. He'd never been attracted to Harry before, or to boys in general, but here he was, suddenly lusting after his best friend. What if Harry discovered what was going on inside his head right now? Would he lose his best friend? He couldn't bear the thought of that, after all, Harry was his best friend, and even if Harry was that way inclined (he was fairly sure he wasn't, after all he had been lusting after Cho Chang for two years now), what would he want with Ron? After all, he was basically only Harry's sidekick, and wasn't even as good a student as Harry, wasn't that good at Quidditch, was poor and the least important member of a massive family, why would Harry want to be with him?

And more to the point, why would Ron want to be with Harry? Since when did he fancy guys?

With his mind reeling, Defence was the perfect subject to be in, he could just sit and stare at the book while his thoughts chased each other around in his head as the entire class sat in silence, Umbridge giving a gloating, smug smile from her desk, her eyes narrowing every time she scanned the room and her eyes fell on Harry. Ron was lost in his own thoughts, wondering if he just had a crush, or was just going mad, or what and barely heard when the bell rang to signal the end of class.

"Mr Potter, a word please." Umbridge said in her sickly sweet voice, and Hermione shared with Ron a look of foreboding as they left the room, leaving Harry staring at Umbridge, who gave him a gloating smile.

"Yes Professor?" he asked in a voice of forced politeness, whereas deep down he would love nothing more than to go all Voldemort on her and kill her where she stood, clad in that stupid pink cardigan with her stupid bow on her head, her toady eyes fixed on him.

"It has come to my attention Mr Potter that someone has been spreading nasty, attention seeking lies about my detentions. I can't have that Mr Potter. So that's another detention you've earned for yourself." She said sweetly, and Harry's mouth jarred open in fury at the injustice.

"What? I haven't done anything, I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to give you the satisfaction!" he spat at her, and she stood there blankly for a minute, before her face broke into a wide, toadlike smile, her eyes glinting with malice.

"Dear dear Mr Potter. Such a temper. I'm afraid if that's the case my detentions can't be having that much of an effect on you. You see Mr Potter I want you to admit that I'm getting to you. I want you to go to all of your rotten little friends and tell them that not only are you wrong about a certain Dark wizard being at large once again, but that you are nothing more than an attention seeking liar who is determined, like your hero Dumbledore, to cause trouble for the Ministry. And yet you continue to spread lies about those immensely clever than yourself. You forget Mr Potter, I have the full might of the Ministry behind me. So, as you have been spreading, shall we say mistruths, about my detentions with you, you will return to my office tonight and do another, and perhaps there will be more for the rest of the week if the message doesn't sink in. You may go." She purred smugly, and longing to throw a diatribe at her, Harry simply grabbed his bag and slammed the door as he left.

XX

"How were you made aware of this Minerva?" Dumbledore asked as three of his Heads of House sat at his desk, two of them looking furious and the other inscrutable as always. His deputy however was in a storming rage and was pacing like a caged animal.

"Longbottom. He came to me in confidence, but I couldn't just ignore it! Albus, she is torturing Harry in those detentions, she is ripping his hand open and making him write lines in his own blood!" she stormed, her face marked with colour and Sprout, looking slightly worried, laid a hand on McGonagall's arm to try and calm her down.

"How was Neville made aware of what is happening to Harry?" Dumbledore asked, inspecting his fingers, and Sprout looked at him incredulously.

"Does it really matter? She is physically harming one of our students!" she snapped, letting go of McGonagall, who immediately started pacing again, her temper roiling, much like Harry's nowadays, just under the surface.

"Are we take the word on that of Potter, an attention seeking know it all, and Longbottom, the worst student in the year?" Snape sneered, and both McGonagall and Sprout's eyes flashed, turning to Snape, but Flitwick, stroking his long white beard, dealt with Snape's sneer far more effectively than either of them could have managed.

"Worst student in the year? I don't think the Head of House who has Crabbe and Goyle among his students can lecture any of us on that." He said tartly, and McGonagall allowed herself a small smile before turning back to Dumbledore, while Flitwick looked rather pleased with himself and Snape scowled.

"Did Harry, Ron or Hermione physically tell Neville this?" Dumbledore asked, and McGonagall scowled as she shook her head, glaring at her friend as she did so.

"No they didn't, he said he heard Harry telling Ron not to say anything, he only heard by a stroke of luck. Albus, we need to do something!" she insisted, and Flitwick nodded his agreement.

"She's right Albus, we're their teachers yes but also their protectors, and we are failing, we're only on the second week of term and she has ripped open a student's hand, if this is the start I dread to think how it might wind up. Particularly, if Severus is right, she is seeking to get Filch onside, he has no loyalty to the students. If she gives him the possibility of whipping the students, she'll win him over." He said darkly, and Dumbledore sighed, steepling his fingers together and looked at his staff, a sickening feeling in his gut as he admitted the truth.

"I'm afraid we can do nothing." He said gravely, and McGonagall took the blow to be physical, sitting down weakly and looking at him in disbelief, unable to form words.

Sprout looked at the headmaster incredulously, spluttering in indignation.

"Albus, she is-" she began hotly, and he nodded, the twinkle in his eyes very much dimmed from its usual state.

"Yes, she is. However, I cannot challenge Dolores on hearsay, especially with to whom she is reporting." He told them, and Sprout slammed her fist on the table, surprising Dumbledore slightly and earning her a reproachful look from Fawkes, who shuffled on his perch.

"Well call Harry here then, ask him outright if Umbridge is torturing him, which she is, and then…"

"And then what Pomona? Fudge will take no action, particularly on the part of Potter. And all it will do is further antagonise him and Umbridge, and she will simply lash out at the students, and Potter and anyone who agrees with him in particular." Snape explained, and she turned to look at him, hardly daring to believe her ears, but McGonagall's eyes were fixed on Dumbledore, and she knew, in that moment, that it was no good and that he agreed with Snape.

"Severus is right. And I highly doubt Harry will come forward regardless." He admitted ruefully, and Snape allowed himself a pleased smirk, unable to resist poking at McGonagall.

"Typical, idiotic Gryffindor self-sacrifice, thinking they can do it all alone…" he mumbled, and her nostrils flared but she otherwise ignored Snape's slight on her house, and instead turned her angry eyes onto Dumbledore.

She knew his reasons, and yes, to an extent they did make sense, but really, he was basically hanging Harry out to dry and letting him do all of this alone, and she was rather frustrated with the headmaster, nor was she the only member of the Order to be thinking so.

"Well perhaps if you had said anything to him recently, he might not be quite so unwilling to come forward." She sniped, and Dumbledore shot her an unimpressed look, but she was too angry with the way he had been ignoring Harry and the fact that Umbridge was torturing one of her students and she was powerless to do anything about it to care much one way or another.

"So we do nothing?" Flitwick demanded, flabbergasted, and Dumbledore nodded gravely.

"I'm afraid so Filius. We must try to protect the students as much as we can of course, but it's no secret that Dolores will not stop until she controls the entire school, and very soon our objections will mean very little. Minerva, you cannot confront Dolores, if you do," he said talking louder, as she was about to interrupt, "if you do she will mark you as a target as well, and could even try and get rid of you first. For now, I am her target, and we need her to remain dedicated to usurping control of the school from me, which means, you, all of you, cannot antagonise her more than is necessary. Am I understood?" he asked severely, and while all four staff did look mutinous, they reluctantly nodded.

"Albus, if we don't stop her now…" McGonagall begged, but Dumbledore shook his head, though despite his actions with Harry recently, he didn't want him hurt any more than necessary, and he couldn't help but feel that he was dooming Harry, and whatever other student came across Umbridge's path, to a lot more pain and misery than they ought to be dealing with.

"Believe me Minerva, that thought will be enough to keep me up at night for quite some time." He told her sadly, and with that, Snape leading the way, the others left the office, reflecting on how rapidly their power was diminishing now that Dolores Umbridge was installed in the school.

XX

"Harry!" Ron exclaimed in relief as Harry entered the common room following his detention with Umbridge.

"Are you ok?" Hermione asked as Harry flopped down into his chair by the fire, blood running from his hand and Ron took his hand in his, hastily accepting the handkerchief that Hermione had been soaking in Murtlap extract for when Harry returned.

"I'm fine." He muttered, glaring into the fire as Ron sat on the arm of Harry's armchair, gently cleaning up his hand, an expression of worried concern on his face as he did so.

"Harry, I'm so sorry I got you into this." Ron muttered, and Harry fixed a tired, world weary glance on him, looking confused.

"What are you talking about?" he asked in confusion, and for some reason he felt a little pang as Ron stopped cleaning up his bleeding hand.

"When I was making things up in Divination, I'm so sorry, I never would have done it if I thought the old cow would torture you for it all over again, I'm so-"

"Ron, it wasn't your fault." Harry said quietly, but Ron was continuing in the same vein as he had been.

"Sorry, next time I'll just tell her I see a useless old fraud-"

"Ron, it wasn't you!" Harry insisted, but Ron was still apologising profusely, though was now being watched with slight amusement by Hermione.

"And tell her to stick her crystal ball right up her ar-"

"It wasn't you!" Harry all but yelled, bringing a stop to Ron's rambling, and his best friend looked at him in confusion, and Harry shrugged, a slight, tired smile on his face as he did so.

"We were in class right before she gave me that detention, there's no way she could have found out about your so called 'vision'. It's not you, don't blame yourself." Harry assured him tiredly, and was relieved when Ron gave him a slight smile and began stroking his hand again, and Hermione scowled angrily.

"Either way though she's still foul. Giving Harry another detention just because someone found out what she's doing to them in said detentions? She's evil, she's torturing you Harry." She complained, and Harry, too tired, fed up and (not that he would admit it to himself) but enjoying Ron stroking his hand to get worked up over the evil old tyrant at the moment.

"Not like we can do anything though is it? Fudge put her here, we're going to be stuck with her until Voldemort comes out into the open. Oh for god sake." Harry complained in amusement, as Ron had toppled off the arm of the chair in fright upon hearing the Dark Lord's name and was now glaring at Harry ruefully from the floor, making Harry grin.

Hermione was watching them with great interest, her mind working overtime as she observed the two of them, a small smile on her face as she did so, well that was interesting, wasn't it?

Jarred from her musings (musings, not fantasies, she told herself firmly), she looked up as the twins and Ginny sat down beside them at the fireplace.

"We heard you had another detention with the old hag, you ok?" George asked, taking Harry's hand, his eyes burning with repressed fury as he saw what she was doing to his adopted little brother, and Harry nodded.

"Yeah I'm fine. Not much we can do about it is there" he lamented sadly, and George stroked his hair slightly as Ron resumed stroking his hand.

"I was talking about it with Colin in Transfiguration, McGonagall looked livid." Ginny muttered, and Harry groaned.

"Oh great now she'll be mad at me too and give me another detention, it's not like I did anything this time, and I'm getting my hand ripped open, it's hardly fair!" he protested, and Ginny shook her head, looking thoughtful.

"I don't think she's mad at you, I think she knows what Umbridge is doing, it would explain a lot, maybe someone else has been in a detention with her, and isn't a martyr like you are, and McGonagall found out." She mused, and Ron whistled, impressed.

"You reckon McGonagall knows and she's still torturing students? Whoa she must have a death wish." He said, and Hermione however looked rather miserable at the prospect.

"McGonagall and the rest of the teachers are stuck just like we are. Umbridge is going to get more and more power, and the teachers won't be able to stop her. Much as she'll hate it, McGonagall will have to endure it." She concluded grimly, and they all went silent, dreading exactly what Umbridge's next move was going to be if McGonagall couldn't stop her torturing the students.

"Want something to cheer you up Harry?" Fred asked, grinning as he pointed to the window, and a very happy Hedwig soared in and landed on Harry's knee, allowing her to stroke her as she nipped his fingers gently.

"Hedwig, where've you been?" he asked, and Ginny grinned.

"We figured she'd be the perfect little messenger to deliver our less than good wishes to our dear elder brother. She was quite eager to join in." she said cheerfully, and Ron grinned in malicious delight.

"So Percy got everything we sent?" he asked excitedly, and Fred winked at his little brother.

"At the moment little brother, he's bound to be having rather a nasty night." He purred smugly, and Harry grinned as he and his friends imagined just what was happening to Percy at that very moment.

XX

Ginny's furious, amplified voice suddenly ended, but by that time it was far too late for Percy to do anything to save his apartment. The exploding portable swamp that had been sent, in hindsight obviously the twins doing, now filled the flat, and frogs, toads, insects and the occasional duck filled his new home. A tower of dragon dung had erupted upon originally opening the parcel, and had splattered on his ceiling, the smell combining with the smell of the swamp to make a very pungent scent. There was frogspawn in his hair and he was covered in gunk from the swamp, and he was sure that he had fish and tadpoles inside his trousers. Two ever-bashing boomerangs had smashed their way out of his door and window respectively. A fanged Frisbee had eaten a massive chunk out of his curtains. Fireworks had burned the words 'prat', 'moron' and 'jerk' onto his walls. Stink pellets were adding to the general aroma of the flat. The Howler had burned a hole in his desk, reducing his quills to ashes. His prefect and head boy badges which he kept on his desk had been immolated by fireworks, turning them into twisted metal. And now there was the sound of insects buzzing and rubbing their legs filling the room.

His entire body was covered in painful boils, a result of the bulbadox powder which had blown out of the parcel in a cloud. His nose was pouring with blood, as a sweet of some description, had fired from the parcel right into his mouth and wasn't stopping. His fingers were a mess, covered in large yellow boils as well as those caused by the bulbapox powder, a result of the undiluted bubotuber pus.

And Ginny's words echoed in his mind to boot.

"HOW DARE YOU TURN ON OUR FAMILY, TURN ON HARRY? RON AND I WOULDN'T BE STANDING HERE IF IT WASN'T FOR HIM! HES A BETTER PART OF THIS FAMILY THAN YOU'VE EVER BEEN, AT LEAST HARRY WOULDN'T ABANDON US OR TURN HIS BACK ON HIS WHOLE FAMILY JUST BECAUSE HE THINKS THEYRE WRONG. YOU BROKE MUMS HEART, YOU MADE DAD FEEL LIKE A FAILURE AND ALL BECAUSE YOURE TOO ARROGANT TO SEE WHATS REALLY GOING ON HERE! DO YOU REALLY THINK HARRY WOULD MAKE ALL THIS UP? HE IS BACK, AND YOURE THE ONE ON THE WRONG SIDE, YOURE THE ONE WHOS GOING TO BE SORRY!

AND FOR THE RECORD, DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU, THE LEAST POPULAR WEASLEY, THE MAN WHO ABANDONED HIS OWN FAMILY AND BROKE HIS PARENTS HEART WHILE CALLING THEM FAILURES, WOULD BE ENOUGH TO TURN RON AGAINST HARRY? IF YOU ARE YOU'RE EVEN MORE MORONIC THAN I EVER THOUGHT!

SO I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS LITTLE GIFT BASKET THAT WE PUT TOGETHER FOR YOU PERCY, AND HOPE THAT YOUR NICE NEW FLAT AND JOB IS WORTH LOSING THE LOVE AND RESPECT OF YOUR FAMILY FOR! YOU AND FUDGE DESERVE EACH OTHER, YOU ARROGANT, POMPOUS SELF SERVING TWAT!

AND DON'T YOU DARE EVER MAKE HARRY FEELT SO SHITTY AGAIN OR YOULL GET WORSE THAN WE JUST GAVE YOU!"

It was sad really, how misguidedly loyal his family were to Harry. It was obvious that the boy, who he had previously liked admittedly, was nothing more than a deranged attention seeking brat who loved being famous and was making up tall tales just so he could continue being famous. He and Dumbledore, who clearly wanted to usurp control of the Ministry, and his family couldn't see how blind they were being. Harry was dangerous, and Ron in particular was in danger from continued association with the boy, how was he meant to follow in his footsteps if he didn't cast off the dead weight that was Potter's rapidly sinking ship?

And the rest of his family, he did love them, of course he did. But they seemed determined not to do what was best for them. By allying with Dumbledore and Harry they were dooming themselves to ruin.

He looked around his ruined flat, not feeling anger, only pity. He'd given them the cold hard truth about Harry but their misguided loyalty had led them to do this to him. He could understand that. But that meant that he had to save them from themselves, and from Harry.

They had to be made to see that Dumbledore, his Order friends, and above all Harry, were going to lead them all to ruin.

And only he could save them, only he could do what was necessary to make sure his family didn't destroy themselves because of their loyalty to the deluded attention seeking prat who loved to be famous.

Which meant he needed Dolores Umbridge.

XX

"Thank you very much Mr Weasley. You have been very helpful." Umbridge said in toadlike delight, sipping her sweet tea.

"And you'll be true to your word?" Percy asked nervously, and she gave him a reassuring smile.

"Of course Mr Weasley, I will inform the minister of how helpful you've been, informing us that Sirius Black is in contact with Harry Potter. You've done the right thing Percy." She assured him and he gave her a slight smile.

"Thank you Senior Undersecretary." He said, and she opened her mouth to correct him, and he shook his head, he'd forgotten the law that had been passed at midnight.

"I mean High Inquisitor. Good night." He said, and left the fireplace.

And with that, Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, newly appointed Hogwarts High Inquistior, leaned back in her chair as she pondered how best to get to Potter and how she could use this information that she had been given to silence him once and for all.

 **Here's the second installment as everyones most hated villain is just beginning to tighten her grip over Hogwarts**

 **So Ron is beginning to notice that his feelings towards Harry are starting to change, is there anything to that? Could it be reciprocated? And just what does Umbridge plan to do next?**

 **Let me know what you think and please read and review!**


	3. Loyalty Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter (or even his wand, I dont like his one much)**

Right Here III

The next morning came, and Harry was feeling rather cheerful, knowing that wherever he was Percy was bound to have a rotten night, and the other's kindness, protectiveness and loyalty to him had warmed him to his core. He sat talking animatedly with Ginny about the Holyhead Harpies and their chances in the league this year while Ron helped himself to sausages and talked with Neville about their Transfiguration homework, which had poor Neville stumped. Hermione however ignored all this and was just unfolding her copy of the Daily Prophet when she let out a small shriek of enraged alarm.

"What?" Ginny asked in panic, cursing as she tried to mop up the coffee she had just spilled down herself, glaring at Harry who looked like he was about to snigger.

"This!" Hermione hissed, and thrust the paper towards them in fury.

Harry took the paper, and his green eyes immediately narrowed to slits as he read aloud.

Ministry Seeks Educational Reform

Dolores Umbridge Appointed

First Ever High Inquisitor

"That doesn't sound good." Neville said darkly, listening in as Harry began to read the article.

' _In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

'" _The Minister has been growing uneasy about goings-on at Hogwarts for some time", said Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley_ (Ron let out a low snarl at the mention of his older brother) _"He is now responding to concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve of."_

 _This is not the first time in recent weeks that the Minister, Cornelius Fudge, has used new laws to effect improvements at the wizarding school. As recently as 30_ _th_ _August, Educational Decree Number Twenty-two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current Headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person._

'" _That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts," said Weasley last night. "Dumbledore couldn't find anyone so the Minister put in Umbridge, and of course, she's been an immediate success,-"_

"What planet is your brother living on?" Neville demanded angrily, as both Ron and Ginny looked furious.

"Wait, it gets better." Harry said in mock cheer, his eyes still in catlike slits.

'" _-an immediate success, totally revolutionising the teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on the ground feedback of what's really happening at Hogwarts."_

 _It is this last function that the Ministry has now formalised with the passing of Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, which creates the new position of Hogwarts High Inquisitor._

'" _This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the_ falling standards _at Hogwarts," said Weasley. "The Inquisitor will have the power to inspect her fellow educators and make sure they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post, and we are delighted to say that she has accepted."_

 _The Ministry's new moves have received enthusiastic support from parents of students at Hogwarts._

'" _I feel much easier in my mind now that I know Dumbledore is being subjected to fair and objective evaluation," said Mr Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking from his Wiltshire mansion last night. "Many of us with our children's best interests at heart have been concerned about some of Dumbledore's eccentric decisions in the last few years and are glad to know that the Ministry is keeping an eye on the situation."_

 _Among those_ eccentric decisions _are undoubtedly the controversial staff appointments previously reported in this newspaper, which have included the employment of werewolf Remus Lupin, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid and the delusional ex-Auror 'Mad-Eye' Moody._

 _It is perhaps these staffing appointments, along with several nasty incidents that have happened at the school, not the least the tragic accidental death of Cedric Diggory in the Triwizard Tournament in June, that have led to the newly appointed High Inquisitor gaining control of the security of Hogwarts school._

'" _There's been loads of nasty stuff in the last few years, ever since Harry Potter turned up funnily enough. Muggle-borns were getting petrified, Sirius Black broke into the school twice, Barty Crouch disappeared on school grounds, and of course Cedric Diggory died in that accident in the maze," says popular, handsome fifteen year old Slytherin student Draco Malfoy. "A lot of us are worried that Dumbledore isn't up to the task of protecting us anymore, we just haven't been able to tell anyone how scared we are, most of the staff are too loyal to Dumbledore, even though he's losing his grip, and the ones who might side with us are constantly shouted down by other teachers."_

 _This ties in to the abounding rumours that Albus Dumbledore, once Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, is no longer up to the task of managing the prestigious school of Hogwarts._

'" _I think the appointment of the Inquisitor is a first step towards ensuring that Hogwarts has a headmaster in whom we can all repose our confidence," said a Ministry insider last night._

 _Wizengamot elders Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden have resigned in protest at the introduction of the post of Inquisitor to Hogwarts._

'" _Hogwarts is a school, not an outpost of Cornelius Fudge's office," said Madam Marchbanks. "This is a further disgusting attempt to discredit Albus Dumbledore."_

 _(For a full account of Madam Marchbanks alleged links to subversive goblin groups, turn to page seventeen)_

Harry was shaking in rage, crumpling Hermione's paper in his grip, while the others looked thunderstruck, but Hermione, like Harry, had moved past shock to fury.

"So that's how we wound up with the old cow! Dumbledore couldn't find anyone, so Fudge appointed her to spy on all of us! And now she's able to inspect the other teachers, I can't believe this, this is _outrageous_!" she spat angrily, too angry now to eat.

"Too right it is, where the hell does she get off telling the other teachers how to do their jobs when all she can do is make us read some dumb book?" Harry demanded, looking up at the staff table.

Up there, the headmaster's chair was empty. However Professor McGonagall was also shaking in rage, her jaw clenched in righteous fury, her paper also crumpled in her hand. Snape was darkly in conversation with Professor Sinistra, eyes glinting with dark fire. Fliwick and Sprout were deep in conversation, Flitwick the angriest any of them had ever seen him, while Sprout's hands were clenched as if she had just slammed them onto the table, which she clearly had as her goblet had been knocked over and was now dripping orange juice onto the floor.

There was one member of staff however who did not look furious. In fact she looked smugly triumphant. Dolores Umbridge was sitting there like the cat that got the cream, smiling vapidly around the room, making sure to give the other staff an extra cheery smile as they glowered at her, stuffed into her fluffy pink cardigan, with a pink hat on her head and a sickly cute cat brooch on her lapel. Harry felt a sudden urge to get up and wring her neck, her piggy little eyes were inspecting the room, and he was sure they passed over him. When they did, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and she allowed herself an even more malicious smile, and Harry suddenly felt very queasy as she got to her feet, looking like she had just been appointed Supreme Ruler of the Universe. She strolled to the front of the staff table, where she had made her speech on the first night, and the other teachers stopped talking with each other and looked at her, though Harry was fairly sure that he wasn't the only one that was considering murderous action: McGonagall and Snape (the first time he and Snape had agreed on anything funnily enough) looked as though they were itching to get their wands from their robes and smite her from the face of existence.

"Hem hem." She coughed, and Harry ground his fingers into the tabletop to prevent flexing them, imagining making sure she could never make that stupid little fake cough again…

The rest of the school all fell silent mutinously, and looked at their new High Inquisitor.

"As your new High Inquisitor, it is my sad duty to inspect my fellow teachers. While I myself have the greatest respect for my colleagues," she said sweetly, turning and giving them a small bow (Harry was sure he briefly saw Sprout give her a one fingered salute when she turned away before an alarmed Flitwick forced her hand down), "it means that I will be in several more of your classes than normal. I assure you that if you have any concerns about my new role, any questions and any remarks that are pertinent to whomever I am examining at the time I will be delighted to hear them." She said, completely ignorant of the fact that the entire staff table looked like they had been force fed poison, after all, she was basically implying their incompetence in front of the entire school.

"Yeah, like she's going to listen to anyone who disagrees with what she's saying." Ron snarled, and Harry's heart roared its approval at his words.

"And now we come to a more serious matter. As you may be aware, the role of the High Inquisitor also includes full responsibility for school security. As such, it is my sad duty to announce that changes to security will need to be made. This is in light of the intelligence that we have received from several trusted sources. It appears as if notorious mass murderer Sirius Black is indeed back in the country. Furthermore, it seems that he is in contact, if not direct cooperation, with someone inside this very school and as such we are now going to take every precaution to ensure the security of the students who are under our care, and protect them from the deranged ravings of Black…and his unknown accomplices. Further information will be posted around the school during the course of the day. Good day to you all." She finished with a final smug grin as the entire school broke into excited muttering and chattering.

Hermione's hand darted under the table, digging into Harry's wrist and her eyes were blazing with warning and fury as she looked at him.

"Don't react." She ground out through gritted teeth, and Harry chanced a glance at Umbridge, who was still standing at the front of the school, leering at him, as though waiting for him to slip up.

However, behind her, the four heads of house had exchanged alarmed glances and swept into the antechamber behind the hall, vanishing from sight.

"What does all that mean?" Neville asked, but in alarm, and figuring Harry's temper was about to explode rather violently, Hermione had taken command, and had gotten to her feet, dragging Harry to his too, and it was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that Ron only gave one last lingering look to his sausages before following them from the great hall, Umbridge's eyes fixed on them in malicious triumph, leaving a shaking Ginny and a very confused Neville at the table.

XX

The door hammered open and the four heads of house swept in, and Dumbledore, who was reading his own paper with a frown on his face, didn't even try to rebuke them for the abruptness of their entrance.

"She knows Albus!" McGonagall bit out in a panic, and Flitwick looked at the two senior faculty members in alarm.

"But how could she know? I mean we all know that Sirius is innocent, but how could she know that he is in the country, and worse, in contact with someone within these walls?" he demanded, running his hands through his white beard in total dismay.

"Severus?" Dumbledore asked, peering over his spectacles, and Snape retorted with an ugly look.

"Are you questioning me headmaster?" he asked, his voice deadly, and Sprout stood between the desk and Snape, in case curses started flying.

"Severus, we all know how Remus left the castle, and Sirius was better at pressing your buttons than Remus could ever hope to be. All he is asking is…"

"I know what he is asking Pomona. The answer, Dumbledore is no. I would not be so foolish as to admit such a thing to Dolores Umbridge." He snapped, effectively ending the conversation, and Dumbledore nodded slowly.

"I apologise Severus, I had to be sure. We know Lucius Malfoy recognised Sirius when he dropped Harry off on the platform, but this, this speaks of a more intimate knowledge than any of our erstwhile Death Eater foes should have." He mused, and Sprout shook her head in disbelief.

"But who could it be though? The only people in Hogwarts who know that Sirius is innocent, and Harry's godfather, and is hence in contact with Harry are the four people in this room, Hagrid, the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry themselves, and none of them would sell out Sirius or Harry, so how in the name of Merlin's saggy testicles does Umbridge know? None of them would ever betray Harry!" she exclaimed, and Snape, who had been glowering out of the window, then turned, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Not all the Weasleys Pomona are loyal to the boy Pomona." He whispered, and McGonagall placed a hand on her heart.

She had always liked Percy the least out of all the Weasleys herself, finding him uptight, arrogant and stuffy, but she had never anticipated that he would betray his family, which Harry was virtually part of, in such a way.

"Percy." She croaked weakly, and Dumbledore closed his eyes in despair, shaking his head at the boy's poor choices.

"Percy Weasley's poor choices aside, we now have a problem. If Dolores is now in charge of school security we must-" Dumbledore said, but was interrupted by Umbridge herself opening the door to his office, and smiling at her fellow teachers.

"Ah, you're all here, excellent." She said in her sweet voice, bustling into the room, and Flitwick glowered at her.

"This is a meeting between the heads of house and the headmaster Dolores, so if you'll excuse us…" he began, but she gave him a pitying smile.

"I'm afraid not Professor Flitwick. As High Inquisitor, I also have the right to sit in on any meetings among the different members of the faculty, and even between the teachers and their students to ensure that the relationships are quite within the proper bounds of what is expected from the custodians of the next generation of magical children. After all, the werewolf Remus Lupin seems to have had far too close a relationship to Mr Potter for a start, as apparently does Rubeus Hagrid, should he ever return to work from his still unexplained absence. The Minister is quite keen for such ill-advised relationships to be stamped out, like little bugs!" she simpered cheerfully, and McGonagall brought herself up to her full height.

"Dolores. The students in our care look to us to do more than teach them, they look to us to be a mixture between authority figure, confidant, teacher, advisor, even parent at times, and we each respond directly to the needs of that particular student. And as for Harry and Hagrid, Hagrid was the first wizard he ever met, and was his first friend in the wizarding world. And as for Remus, he is an old friend of Harry's father so he is technically an uncle of sorts to Harry, and above that, he is one of the best Defence teachers we've ever had, and his own aptitude for the subject also made it easier for Harry to establish such a good relationship with him, there is no impropriety at place here!" she stormed, and Umbridge only smiled wider.

"Really Minerva? I'm afraid I shall have to be the judge of that, when I sit in on such meetings. But that isn't why I'm here," she insisted, savouring the furious expression on McGonagall's face, "instead I'm here to inform you of the new security regime that I will be implementing. As I said to the students, the Ministry has reason to believe that Sirius Black is at large once again, and even worse, is cooperating with someone inside this castle, perhaps some misguided student," she suggested and McGonagall felt her stomach collapse in terror, "so as a result we must now take extra precautions in order to ensure the safety of our students. We will be increasing patrols at night, any student caught out after hours will be dealt with by me personally, we will be enforcing strict curfews, late night quidditch practices will be discontinued as will any other late night clubs. And now, regrettably, I come to the part that will meet with the most resistance. I have summoned Dementors to the school." She told them, though she didn't look regretful at all, instead she looked delighted, her eyes glinting with victory.

Dumbledore got to his feet, an aura of intimidating power emanating off him, fire etched in every line of his face.

"I will not allow Dementors inside my school Dolores." He informed her, and she gave him an indulgent smile.

"I'm afraid headmaster, you don't have any choice. As High Inquisitor, and until the ongoing threat of Sirius Black has been dealt with, I am in charge of the security of Hogwarts. You see, Cornelius felt that with your irrational opposition to Dementors,"

"Irrational? You can't be serious, how are we supposed to teach with those monstrosities floating around, feeding off the students!" Flitwick roared, but Umbridge merely swelled herself up.

"-Irrational opposition to Dementors, you would be unable or unwilling or incapable of taking the necessary steps to protect the students, which is why he has given me such powers!" she bellowed, savouring the defeated look on Flitwick's face.

"Then they will stay outside the grounds." Dumbledore demanded through gritted teeth, and Umbridge let out a simpering laugh.

"Oh I'm afraid not headmaster, you see from out there they wouldn't be able to do what needs to be done. Rather, they will be inside the castle, actively looking for any signs of collusion or contact with Sirius Black. They will join the staff in the patrolling of the corridors, and they will also be conducting thorough searches of every common room and of the student's belongings, to ensure the safety and security of the school. Good day to you all." She simpered, triumphant to the last and waddled from the office, flashing them a last gloating smile as she closed the door, leaving the stunned staff in her wake.

Silence reigned in Dumbledore's office for a g-ood ten minutes before any of them could get over their shock and anger in order to speak again.

"Dementors…inside Hogwarts. I'm…I'm…I'm appalled." Sprout breathed weakly.

"You're appalled? I'm appalled." Flitwick whispered weakly.

"It's just…it's…" McGonagall stuttered.

"Appalling." Snape finished, looking very disturbed (which as a former Death Eater was rather hard to do).

"We need to fight this, that's all, parents won't be happy about this we'll rally them, we'll…" Flitwick began, trying to restore some semblance of order.

"We'll do nothing Filius." Dumbledore sighed, hating every single syllable, cold fury blazing in his eyes and across his face.

"What? Do nothing? How-?" McGonagall breathed, unable to believe her ears, and Dumbledore's nostrils flared in anger as he began to pace like a caged animal.

"We can do nothing. In charge of security as she now is, I'm fairly certain Umbridge will soon be investigating all mail coming in and out of the castle. She will not allow word of what she's done to get to parents. We will need to wait for the holidays for parents to become aware, and with the way the wind is blowing, I fear it may not be enough." He muttered to himself, and the other staff looked alarmed.

"But Albus, she'll have those foul creatures patrolling the school, entering the common rooms, it puts them all in danger, look what happened to Barty Crouch Junior, we must stop this!" she stormed, and he laid a hand on his shoulder, looking immensely grave.

"I know Minerva." He told her, trying to calm her.

Snape got to his feet, stroking his chin musingly.

"I fear we may have made a grave mistake in underestimating Dolores Umbridge. This is, after all, a master stroke." He admitted, and McGonagall looked at him, as though already dreading the answer to the question that she was about to ask.

"A master stroke how Severus?" she asked, feeling nauseous and he turned, emulating Dumbledore as he paced into the centre of the room.

"It's clear that she at least has some idea of which students are in touch with Black, hence the presence of the Dementors. As such she has summoned them to the school, and has backed us into a corner, meaning we can do nothing about them. We will now have Dementors patrolling the caste and are unable to do anything to prevent it. And Potter, who escaped an attack by Dementors and hence made the Ministry look foolish when he was cleared of all charges in the summer, is affected with greater severity than any other student in the castle. They affect him so badly that he collapses." He told them, though he did smirk a little at the thought of Harry collapsing.

"You think she's brought them here partly to get back at Harry for getting off?" Flitwick asked darkly, and Snape nodded.

"Yes, but there is another aspect to the plan. With Dementors patrolling the corridors, even being able to conjure a full Patronus, Potter won't be able to fight them all the time, and I'm fairly sure Dolores will quickly prevent him from doing so anyway, which means he will inevitably collapse due to their influence. And if word gets out that he is collapsing at school…"

"Umbridge will have the Prophet report that he is enduring a pain in his scar, which will further destroy any credibility Harry has left. You're right Severus, it is a master stroke. I'm going to kill her." McGonagall vowed in a voice of determined calm.

"We have to do something Albus." Sprout begged, but she could tell that it was no good, Umbridge had them good and cornered.

"I'm afraid we can do nothing Pomona. Hogwarts is about to come under garrison by Dementors." Dumbledore growled, his voice uncharacteristically harsh as the pink clad figure of Umbridge strolled towards the gates in order to let her pet Dementors in.

XX

"Well how did you both do?" Hermione asked hesitantly as they left Herbology, where Professor Sprout seemed to be in rather a foul mood and even Neville, who got on with her best, didn't dare linger as she seemed to be in such a foul mood. Several times it seemed though she was trying to speak to Harry, but whatever had gotten her riled up prevented her by making her so mad she could barely speak.

"I got an E." Harry replied, relieved that he didn't have a bad Herbology grade to add to his History of Magic and Potions ones, and Ron shrugged.

"An A, but Hannah got a mark more than me and she got an E so I just missed it. What did you get, an O as usual?" he teased, and she went slightly red, smiling in pleasure as they headed up towards Defence.

However, as they continued discussing how Herbology at the very least seemed like it wouldn't present too many problems in the near future, Harry suddenly came to a stop, that horrible feeling in his stomach, no they couldn't be here, not here inside the castle, they were meant to be safe here, Dumbledore…

But there they were. Two Dementors, their tall shrouded forms, turned their sightless gazes onto him, their pale and rotting hands extending from their cloaks, grasping towards him greedily. Their low, sucking, rattling breaths filled the corridor, and Harry felt so cold, the hair on his arms and the back of his neck rising, he was shaking with cold and dread…

He barely registered Hermione and Ron drawing their wands in alarm, Ron forcing Harry behind him protectively, as the Dementors swooped towards them, their breaths chilling Harry to the core, they couldn't be here…

" _Stand aside you silly girl!"_

" _Not Harry, please not Harry!"_

" _Stand aside! Avada Kedavra!"_

" _Kill the spare!"_

" _I can touch him…now!"_

" _Bow to death Harry."_

No, he was losing consciousness, he was slumping against the wall, he could hear his other classmates behind him, crying out in alarm, Neville joining Hermione and Ron with his wand raised, the others following suit…all of them, even Seamus, determined to protect him…

" _Expecto Patronum_!" Harry gasped weakly, but to his immense relief, Prongs erupted from his wand, charging towards the Dementors who slowed to a stop, and-

" _Finite Incantatem_!" a sickly sweet voice yelled, and with a wave of her wand, Umbridge vanished Harry's Patronus.

Emerging from her classroom, Umbridge looked at the assembled Gryffindors, all of them looking horrified and terrified in equal measure, Ron crouching beside Harry while Hermione propped him up, trying to get him to respond. Her puffy eyes widened in malicious pleasure as she came down upon them, though to her credit she did point away from the class, and the Dementors reluctantly swooped up the corridor.

"Harry, Harry…here." Ron insisted, pressing a chocolate frog into his best friend's hand, and Hermione looked at him incredulous.

"Do you produce them?" she demanded, wondering where the hell he had gotten that from, and Harry hastily gulped down some chocolate, which he then felt like bringing back up as Umbridge descended upon them.

"Professor, there were Dementors!" Seamus spluttered in rage, and she flashed him a gloating smile.

"Of course there were Mr Finnegan. They are here on my orders. That is what I meant by further security you see. Until Sirius Black and his accomplices within Hogwarts are caught, the Dementors will be acting as extra security. So, for drawing your wands on Ministry representatives, ten points will be taken from each of you. Now go inside." She ordered and the entire class looked outraged, and it seemed to dawn on Umbridge that they were all still holding their wands.

"Now! And wands away!" she insisted, and griping bitterly and throwing nasty looks at her, they retreated, leaving Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville in the corridor with her.

"Feel better?" Hermione asked worriedly, stroking Harry's hair as he nibbled on some chocolate and he nodded a little.

"Inside, Longbottom." Umbridge ground out and Neville brought himself up to his full height, and the trio were delighted to see her retreat slightly, he'd gotten a lot taller over the summer.

"You won't get away with this. It'll come back and bite you." He told her with relish and with a final glare at her, he retreated inside, leaving her spluttering indignantly behind him, which she dealt with by turning on the other three.

"Eating isn't permitted between classes Mr Potter. _Evanesco_." She said sweetly, and the chocolate frog vanished from his hands, which she was thrilled to notice were shaking.

"He needs that to recover from those things that you've invited here!" Hermione spat, her hair seeming to crackle with electricity.

"Mind your tone Miss Granger. Now Mr Potter, you might have gotten away with your illegally learned spell during the summer, but for the foreseeable future, the Dementors are here to ensure school security. So, I'm going to tell you now, any further Patronuses on your part, and I shall put you in detention. As it stands, fifty points from Gryffindor for attacking them. Now get inside." She bit out, and Ron shot her a look of deepest loathing before leaning down to help Harry.

"He is not an invalid Weasley." She said, expecting him to stop, but Ron simply ignored her and helped support a still weak and shaking Harry into the classroom while Hermione looked at Umbridge in revulsion.

She then turned smartly, robes billowing and slammed the classroom door, leaving a gloating Umbridge outside.

XX

The entire class was furious, even Seamus and Lavender, who didn't believe Harry's claims about Voldemort, were furious, simmering in rage at how cruelly Umbridge was treating them, and about the fact that she had allowed Dementors into the school, while she sat, sipping tea behind her desk, a look of vindicitive triumph about her, which increased every time she saw Harry shivering in his seat, all but leaning on Ron, who kept exchanging dark looks with Hermione, who had gouged massive nail marks into her book she was so angry.

"He needs the hosipital wing." She hissed under her breath, and was quite heartened to see that everyone was sending Harry concerned looks, but rather than being concerned for themselves, they were clearly worried for him.

In all fairness to them, Harry did look awful. He was weak and shaking, the unexpected appearance of the Dementors and their very presence in the school combining with his par for the course foul mood these days, and making him even worse than he already felt. He couldn't hold his quill his hands were shaking so much, he was very white, and felt bone weary and he was slumped in his chair, and he couldn't even muster the strength to glare at Umbridge, and currently the only thing keeping him from collapsing was the fact that he was lying against Ron, but even that wasn't doing him any favours, he was too cold to even appreciate the fact.

"He needs chocolate, once he gets that he'll be fine." He insisted, though he too looked very concerned about Harry.

"I can still hear him…torturing me, murdering Cedric. Maybe it's getting better though, I can't hear him murdering my mum." Harry mumbled, sounding very weak and tired, and Ron exchanged a devastated look with Hermione, how bad must he feel that it was a good thing that he was only hearing a more recent murder.

"I don't know if it'll help Ron. Can't you feel it? There must be more Dementors in the school than the two we saw, its permeating the whole room. I can hear…I can hear stuff, if I try really hard." Neville muttered under his breath behind Harry and Ron's table and Harry tried to talk to Neville, as he had an inkling of what he was hearing but his strength failed him.

"Neville's right, and they're floating around outside the school too, Parvati saw them when she came in, they're everywhere. Not to mention, they're probably gravitating towards her since she's their boss." Hermione ground out, her expression murderous.

"And is evil as all hell." Neville added just as there was a knock at the door.

"Enter!" Umbridge, who had been about to separate the four who were whispering at the back, even though none of the rest of the class had so much as opened their books, called resentfully, and McGonagall entered, her sharp eyes taking in the whole scene before turning her attention to the High Inquisitor.

"Excuse me Professor Umbridge, but I wonder if I might borrow Potter?" she asked, and Umbridge's eyes narrowed.

"Potter still has half of his lesson left to complete Professor McGonagall." She replied in a voice of poisoned honey, clearly furious.

"I am aware of that Professor, I do write the student's timetables you know. However there is something pressing that simply cannot wait, so I need to take Potter from class. And as it applies to Mr Weasley and Miss Granger too, I'd best take them too." McGonagall said smartly, and Harry perked up a little, and couldn't quite shake the feeling that she was quite enjoying poking the honey bear.

"Potter still has a class to complete." Umbridge said in a voice of determined sweetness, and McGonagall looked slightly bored by her line of argument.

"I know, however there is something pressing that I must discuss with them." She told her, and Umbridge's eyes widened in delight, thinking that she had caught McGonagall out.

"Are you forgetting that as High Inquisitor, I am entitled to sit in on private sessions between students and teachers to ensure that everything, is as it were, above board?" she asked soppily, and McGonagall nodded.

"Of course you are. However, to do so would detract from you 'valuable' teaching time," she sniffed, looking around at the students, most of whom still hadn't opened their books despite the presence of their head of house, "and it's rather hard for you to get to work on the slipping standards of the school if you let them slip yourself." She pointed out sardonically, and Umbridge swelled in impotent rage, realising she'd been outmanoeuvred.

"Very well, Potter, you and your friends will report back here…" she began, but McGonagall held up a finger.

"If I may Professor, classes will soon end for the day soon, it would be easier for me just to dismiss them. See you at dinner." She said cheerfully, and with a majestic gesture, chivvied her students from the room while Umbridge slammed her fist on her desk in impotence, to the sound of delighted sniggering as they left the room.

"Thanks professor, but she'll get you back for that." Ron told her, and McGonagall's slight smile faded as she sighed wearily.

"I know she will." She said tersely as she led them to her office.

They entered the corridor and two Dementors turned their sightless eyes towards McGonagall and her students, and she raised her wand, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Get out of this corridor, or you will be made to." She warned, and reluctantly the soul sucking fiends slinked away in defeat allowing her to open the door and herd her students inside.

As soon as the door was closed, Ron helped a still weak Harry into a chair as McGonagall cast her cat patronus, having it patrol the door.

"Professor, this is awful, she's set loose Dementors inside the castle!" Hermione suddenly raged, and McGonagall's eyes flashed furiously.

"You think we're any happier about it than you are Miss Granger? It's why Fudge put her in charge of school security, so she could inflict those abominations upon the school. Here Potter, have a couple of chocolate gingers, that'll put the colour back in your cheeks, and I need you alert for what I'm about to tell you." She said, reaching into her desk and extracting a small bag of chocolate covered pieces of ginger and as soon as he ate them he started to feel better, which meant that he got his fight back.

"She can't be serious, bringing those things into the school!" he stormed and McGonagall looked slightly bored by his outburst.

"Potter, do try to understand, we have no power over her! You think any of us want them floating around? It's why Fudge gave her control of school security, it's part of her master stroke. You see, she now has Dementors within Hogwarts. She has an inkling that several students within the castle know about Sirius and I'm afraid she probably has quite a shrewd idea of who those students are. As such, the Dementors have been summoned to scare the students who would otherwise resist her into capitulation, but more so in order to get to you. You escaped the Ministry's brand of 'justice' in the summer and she wants payback for that. What's more, you and Professor Dumbledore are the focal points of the reports that You-Know-Who has returned. By bringing Dementors here, knowing their effect on you, she will be able to attribute any collapses on your part which may be due to the Dementors to your scar acting as an alarm bell. She'll make you a figure of ridicule and further destroy your credibility, which means in turn…"

"She'll make sure that even less people believe me." Harry groaned, and she nodded grimly.

"Yes. Now, Umbridge is going to be policing the school, and using the Dementors to effect that. Dementors will be patrolling the corridors at all times, though particularly at night. She will be on the lookout for anybody using a Patronus, so I'm afraid Potter that…"

"Wait, he has to just sit back and let them hurt him?" Ron demanded, and McGonagall closed her eyes, as though praying for patience as she kept getting interrupted, but she nodded.

"I'm afraid so. I know it's terrible, but there's nothing we can do to stop her now, so you must be careful, do all you can to avoid them. Umbridge won't hesitate to stick you in detention if you repel them even if it is to protect yourself, and we can't give her even more reason to go after you. I'm sorry Harry, but there is literally nothing we can do to protect you from them." She said, looking sickened by the very thought.

"But the Patronus…" Hermione began, but Harry shook his head.

"No, I can't use it, because I'm probably the only person in the school except the teachers who can, right?" he asked tiredly, and McGonagall nodded.

"I'm afraid so Harry. It also makes our job harder, with the Dementors here, they will now be looking for any and all Patronuses, which means we are going to find it even harder to communicate than we already are. Which brings me to my next point. You need to leave here and go back to your dormitory, and hide any and all things that connect you even remotely with Sirius." She told him in a hushed voice, and Ron looked at her, his expression foreboding.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously, and her usually stern demeanour seemed to melt as she looked incredibly scared and apologetic.

"Tonight, Gryffindor tower is going to be searched by Umbridge and the Dementors for any evidence that its inhabitants are in contact with Sirius." She whispered, and Harry shot to his feet, looking frantic.

"She can't do that!" he protested, his heart hammering and Hermione nodded fervently beside him.

"Professor, only the head of house, the matron and the headmaster have the authority to enter the common rooms, you know that, and to let the Dementors into where we all sleep,"

"Hermione! I know all this but we are powerless! I detest this as much as you do, if not more, I certainly don't want Dementors in Gryffindor tower, particularly when there is even the remotest possibility of them finding anything linking you lot to Sirius, but she has all the power now! I am doing everything I can to protect you and your fellow students from her excesses but I can only do so much. Now please, all three of you be silent while we talk this through! Harry, what do you have that could link you back to Sirius, letters, items, gifts, any of it?" she asked insistently, and Harry struggled to think.

"I-I don't think so, I've not got any letters, and the only things that I have from him are my penknife and my-my Firebolt." He admitted with defeat, and he had to admit, despite the seriousness of the situation, it was quite amusing seeing McGonagall's eyes widen in alarm at the thought of her seeker losing his broom to the toad.

"Very well…the knife isn't that bad, that can be easily hidden but the broom…take it to Madam Hooch, tell her I told you to get it checked over because of the Dark Lord returning, say we can't be too careful, we must throw her off the scent. But we need to try and find a way to alert Sirius, if he tries to contact you…" she breathed, and Harry chewed his lip, terror for his godfather filling him.

"Hedwig…" he suggested, and she frowned, looking concerned.

"Umbridge will surely try and intercept her." She dismissed, but Harry shook his head.

"I can write in code, it'll be fine." He assured her, and while she wasn't convinced, she did nod her assent.

"Alright. Do what you can, I will escort you back to Gryffindor tower in case she tries to take her frustration with me out on you. I know none of you like this, I myself detest it, but we can do nothing." She apologised helplessly, and led her defeated students back to the common room.

 **I decided to split this section into two, so my notes will be in the next part!**


	4. Loyalty Part 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter (I do own McGonagall, Tonks, Sprout, Fleur, Dumbledore, Kingsley, Voldemort and Bellatrixs wands though)**

Right Here III

After dinner that night, the students who hadn't been forewarned were attracted by a disturbance, and heard Umbridge on the other side of the portrait hole, arguing with the Fat Lady, who was refusing to open for her. Umbridge's voice got even more sickly and poisonous as she lost control of her temper as she couldn't get her way, but it was only when Professor McGonagall arrived and, her voice full of self-loathing, reluctantly ordered a horrified Fat Lady to open for Umbridge. Smiling smugly, Umbridge had then waddled into the common room, surrounded by four Dementors, prompting screams of shock and numerous students drawing wands.

"If any of you attempt to interfere with the actions of the Dementors, I will put you in detention, they are here to search the tower for any evidence that some among you are in league with Sirius Black. Behave and you wont be hurt." She told them, her eyes glinting with malice, her eyes drawn to the fireplace where Harry was slumped in his chair, the power of the Dementors already overcoming him, despite the entire Weasley clan, Hermione and Neville standing in front of him, fury etched in their faces, wands drawn.

One Dementor began gliding towards them, perhaps because they perceived a threat or perhaps because it sensed Harry, but there was then a dart of silver light from the doorway. Umbridge span around furiously, to see McGonagall with her wand drawn, her knuckles white in fury.

"I told you Dolores, keep them under control or I will banish them." She bit out, her teeth gritted, and Umbridge smiled sweetly.

"You seem to forget Minerva, I was appointed to care for the security of this school by the Minister himself, so if I order them to search a room, then I expect-"

"That does not include them harassing one of my students, or are you saying that torturing Harry is Ministry policy?" she challenged, and there was a little flicker on Umbridge's face, a self-satisfied smile which made it clear that that _was_ Ministry policy, that Ron caught sight of.

Scenting danger, Fred raised an arm and stopped his brother leaping across the room and bludgeoning Umbridge to death as Umbridge hastily rearranged her froglike features.

"Of course not Minerva, why would torture a child?" she simpered, and McGonagall smiled humourlessly.

"Why indeed?" she asked politely, gesturing menacingly with her wand and Umbridge backed down.

"You two, go and investigate the girl's dormitories, you two, the boys." She ordered, her wide mouth split into an evil smile as she watched Harry struggle to remain conscious as McGonagall looked sickened with herself beside her, impotent as the Dementors menaced her students.

XX

"You look awful." Hermione told Harry two days later as he dropped down into a seat for breakfast, looking miserable and tired.

The Dementor garrison was taking its toll upon the school. Now (to his slight relief) it wasn't just Harry who was being affected by the damn things as they patrolled the school, and even certain Slytherins weren't looking their usual mocking selves, trying, like the rest of the student body, to give the abominations a wide berth. However, sensing Harry's particularly low resistance to them, the foul creatures had been dogging his footsteps. Ron, who was now staying awake longer at night to make sure Harry went to sleep before he did, had reported to McGonagall who had told a furious Dumbledore that the Dementors were clustering outside the tower at night, affecting Harry even more than the rest of the school. While Seamus kept using the various nightmares and experiences the Dementors forced Harry to relive as proof of his insanity, the others were just as anxious with those monstrosities floating around outside.

There was no respite during the day either. As soon as they left the tower, Dementors seemed to materialise and follow Harry everywhere. There was always at least three lingering outside the portrait hall to the hatred of the Fat Lady and they were stationed at strategic points on their way down to breakfast, and it seemed like they had memorised Harry's timetable too (Hermione was rather suspicious about that, believing their boss probably had a hand in it). Indeed one Dementor, most likely drawn by the usual gloom that plagued the Gryffindors on Mondays as the timetable was so bad (Slytherin's was little better, they had a lot of the same classes yet they also had Transfiguration which only Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass seemed to enjoy as they were good at it, and McGonagall didn't let them away with their usual rubbish), had barged into the dungeon were their class was. Snape, his face the definition of fury, had sent an indistinguishable white light at the Dementor and banished it from the dungeon, and moments later a livid Dumbledore had arrived, talked quietly with Snape (how the trio wished they had had Extendable Ears) and even Umbridge had had the good sense to look abashed when they had gotten to her classroom for Defence.

"There was a big cluster of them waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Where were you?" Harry asked tiredly, looking pale, with bags under his eyes as Ron made him some strong coffee, his face betraying his concern.

"I left a bit earlier to try and scare them off, there weren't any outside a minute ago." She said worriedly, and Harry shrugged.

"Not much we can do about it though is there? Thanks." He said thankfully taking his coffee, and Ginny looked furious.

"They're clearly stalking Harry!" she hissed, and Ron looked at her sadly.

"It's like we told you sis, the other teachers can't do a thing, she's calling the shots." He told her, his furious eyes turned on Umbridge, who was sitting, ignored by the other teachers as usual, up at the staff table.

"He's not the only one." Luna Lovegood as she drifted over dreamily to talk to Ginny and sat down beside them, and Harry looked at her with interest.

"Who else are they chasing after?" he asked, and Luna pointed vaguely at the Slytherin table.

"Theo Nott for one. They seem to follow him too." She said, and Harry thought about it, looking over at the Slytherins.

While Malfoy looked delighted with the situation, Nott and Daphne Greengrass were sitting at the far end of the table, and the usually pallid boy did look paler than usual. What was it that was attracting the Dementors to them?

"It's awful what they're doing here. Mum will have a fit when she finds out." Ginny said, and Harry looked nervously around before leaning closer.

"I'm more worried about what Sirius might do, he still hasn't replied, and with the whole school being watched for Patronuses, we can't even check." He mumbled, and Ron squeezed his wrist.

"He'll be fine mate, if nothing else, Lupin will stop him doing something stupid." He assured him, just as the post arrived.

But as there was still no sign of Hedwig in the parliament of owls, Harry couldn't help his heart getting that little bit tighter as worry for his godfather filled him.

XX

History of Magic was bad enough, but now with at least two Dementors patrolling the corridor right outside the classroom, the cold feeling was seeping in, making them all feel even worse about the subject than they already did, and Harry was just absently gazing into space, and even Hermione was struggling to take notes under the baleful influence of the ghouls outside.

Harry was lost in thought. His return to Hogwarts, so long sought after, had been nothing but a nightmare. Umbridge was steadily making his life a living hell, cutting off all avenues of pleasure. Hagrid was gone, she was restricting his time on the quidditch pitch, she was stopping him from talking with Sirius, she was going to be cracking down on the teachers who were on his side, she was going to turn more students against him, and she had unleashed Dementors onto the school. Now she was lording it over the school, and the Dementors were following him wherever he went.

But all through all of this, there had been one constant: his friends. Ever since Umbridge had appeared the Weasleys, Hermione, Neville, Dean, Parvati and others had rallied around him, even Luna had taken his side, all standing up to Umbridge for him. But it was Ron who was occupying his thoughts at the moment.

The other night, when he'd been upset about Percy, Ron had been there, and had consoled him, holding him until he went to sleep, stroking his hair. Admittedly, the next morning, Harry had rather liked the fact that he had woken up beside Ron, he'd felt warm, safe and cared about in a way that he didn't know he'd ever felt before. And before they'd gotten up Ron had been gently stroking his hair, and he'd felt…well he was pretty sure he'd liked it. And ever since then Ron had been sticking to him like glue, trying to protect him from the Dementors, trying to keep him from Umbridge, and Harry was, bizarrely, liking it. Usually he couldn't stand when anyone made a fuss over him, but he rather liked this protective streak that Ron was on, it made him feel, well he didn't know. And there was other things, the fact that Ron had seemed a lot more physical lately, and his mind had briefly wandered when he had accosted him in that alcove outside Divination, and he'd wondered just what it would be like to…

"Harry, look!" Hermione hissed in annoyance, jerking Harry from his reverie.

"What?" he asked defensively, aware that something had changed down below, but she wasn't interested in him she was pointing to the window.

Hedwig was tottering on the windowsill and was looking at him balefully. With Binns currently occupied with his drone on giant wars, and the students in their usual stupor, he darted across to the window and lifted his own inside, which immediately distracted everyone's attention.

"She's hurt!" Harry exclaimed in alarm, and even more to his alarm, there was no answering letter from Sirius.

"Hurt?" Ron asked in concern, and raised a hand to her right wing, which seemed to be at an odd angle and she nipped her beak at him in protest.

Harry stroked her head gently, looking at Hermione worriedly. There was no way of telling if Sirius had gotten his coded letter, and the injury to Hedwig surely meant she'd been attacked, which meant that Umbridge was most likely behind it.

"Come on Hedwig." He said, stroking her affectionately and he put her on his shoulder where she nibbled his ear gently while Hermione and Ron began to urgently discuss what, or more likely who, might have harmed Hedwig as Harry excused himself from the class and hurried to the staff room, as when he looked outside Professor Grubbly-Plank didn't seem to be standing outside teaching. He narrowly avoided two Dementors, and when he snuck into a secret passage to avoid them, he also noticed that she had blood on her beak too. Stroking her reassuringly, he resumed his course and fortunately escaped the influence of any more Dementors as he headed to the staff room. He urgently knocked on the door, only to be met with Snape's face, who gave him his usual look of loathing before turning with a sneer.

"It's for you Minerva." He said, sweeping back to his seat, and McGonagall replaced him, her eyes flashing dangerously as she saw Harry.

"Have you been given another detention?" she demanded angrily, but he shook his head.

"No professor, I was in History of Magic, and Hedwig came to me there, and her wing's all bent and there's blood on her beak too, look." He told her, and she gave him a frightened look before turning to call Grubbly-Plank but she was already there.

"Sorry, overheard. Hmm, let's have a look at you dear," she said to Hedwig kindly, and Harry nodded encouragingly at his owl, who reluctantly allowed Grubbly-Plank to inspect her wing, looking at it through her monocle.

"What could have attacked her?" McGonagall asked as Harry looked on nervously, and Grubbly-Plank sucked the inside of her cheek, considering her answer.

"Up here, I'd say a Thestral, but the only thing is Hagrid has the herd well trained, they don't go for owls. And they don't have red blood either, it's black. I'm sorry to say but if I had to guess, I'd say a witch or wizard grabbed her." She said darkly, and Snape sat a little straighter, exchanging a dark look with McGonagall and Harry's heart plummeted.

"But who I can't say." Grubbly-Plank mused, but it was clear from her tone of voice that she too had an inkling she just didn't want to risk saying it aloud.

"Will she be alright?" Harry asked incessantly, and Grubbly-Plank nodded.

"She'll be as good as new in no time, don't worry, you can have her back in a couple of days. Come on hen, let's have a look at your wing." She said to Hedwig who gave Harry a hoot of goodbye as McGonagall turned to Harry, but before she said anything, Harry got there first.

"She didn't bring a letter back." He whispered in a panic, and she went white.

"We will try to get word to the Order. Do not attract Umbridge's attention." She warned darkly just as the bell rang, and she let Harry go with a nod before she turned in panic to Snape and he heard the two of them begin to converse in hushed voices as the school began to move to its next class.

XX

"So you reckon Umbridge attacked Hedwig?" Fred demanded angrily late that night, when it was only the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry still in the common room, and Harry nodded darkly.

"Makes sense doesn't it, especially when she has it in for me?" he snarled as he paced in front of the fire, the thought of that evil toad laying hands on his owl was filling him with fury, but for some reason Ron had a slight grin on his face.

"What's so funny?" Harry snapped at him, as the day had gone on, he'd gotten angrier and angrier, he couldn't even talk to Sirius now without her sticking her nose in, and he was laughing about it?

"Oh nothing. Just I saw Umbridge earlier, and her hands were covered in bandages. If she was the one who attacked Hedwig, Hedwig made her regret it." He told Harry with relish, and Harry grinned a little.

"That's my girl." He said proudly, imagining Umbridge shrieking in pain as Hedwig hooted defiantly and offered her the proverbial finger.

"The point is though, if Umbridge was the one to attack Hedwig, she'll know you're in contact with Sirius." Ginny said worriedly, her eyes looking at the fire worriedly, and Harry looked at her in despair.

"I know." He admitted, his voice quavering slightly, and George clapped him on the shoulder.

"You said it was code right? Well she can't crack it surely, it'll be fine." He assured Harry and Ron squeezed Harry's wrist reassuringly as Harry turned to look pensively into the fire, only to yell in surprise, as Sirius head had just materialised in the fire.

"Sirius!" he cried in alarm and all the others looked down at Sirius, who looked immensely relieved to see his godson.

"Are you alright?" he asked, and Harry nodded, before Hermione found the voice to ask the very same thing Harry was wondering.

"Sirius, are you insane? The entire castle is on lockdown, Umbridge has brought in Dementors, and you're crazy enough to use the fireplace when you know they're being watched? How stupid are you?" she screamed, and he sent her a vexed look.

"When we heard what Umbridge had done, we had to find out, and as we can't use Patronuses anymore, how was I meant to check up on Harry? Are you all safe?" he intoned, and they all nodded, and he then returned to his usual demeanour, grinning up at Harry, who looked back at him worriedly, but he couldn't deny, after the week he'd had, he was immensely glad to see Sirius.

"We're fine. But someone knows we're talking, that's why Umbridge is doing all this." He told him, and Sirius nodded, looking darkly at the Weasleys.

"We think it was your favourite brother, because Percy is now Assistant to the Minister, not just Junior Assistant, and your parents did say they'd discussed me being innocent in his ear shot, we think he's the one who sold me out." He complained bitterly, and the twins got to their feet in rage.

"That colossal dick, Sirius mate, if we'd known…" Fred began, but Sirius raised a hand to quell them.

"There's nothing we can do about it, and besides, I don't think it'll help your mum knowing you lot are at war with him, even if he is the scummiest asskisser on the planet. Now, you all need to be careful, Umbridge has clearly got it in for you in particular Harry, she can move against you easier than she can against Dumbledore, and with the teachers defanged by her now being High Inquisitor, you need to be extra careful, ok? Promise me." He ordered, and Harry nodded, looking miserable despite the presence of his godfather.

"Yeah. But Sirius, the Dementors…" he began, and Sirius scowled.

"We know. Dumbledore let us know, Molly's going insane, we had to slip her a little something, she was going to come marching up to the school, and I have to agree, those things floating around you lot doesn't exactly fill me with joy. Keep your heads down, and you guys, can you look after Harry, I know none of you will like them either but they affect Harry worse and seem to be singling him out, just like that evil hag you've got as a teacher." He asked, and the others all nodded.

"Of course we will. But Sirius, the entire school is horrible, Umbridge is encouraging people to tattle to her if anyone tells the truth," Ginny began.

"She won't let us use defensive magic in class," George chimed in.

"She's ripped Harry's hand open in detention," Ron added, and Sirius' eyes bulged in fury.

"She's going to inspect the teachers," Hermione said, and Harry, fed up of the constant din, whistled loudly, stopping them in their tracks as Sirius seemed determined to come to the castle.

"Ripping open Harry's hand? I'll kill her!" he vowed, and the Weasleys grinned as they saw their mother's hand grab Sirius and pull him back, and they heard her annoyed voice at the other end.

"Sirius, no, you can't go to the castle, you're a wanted mass murderer! Besides, I wanted to kill her first, wait your turn! Oh now what?" she asked in exasperation, and let Sirius go, and he sat there scowling for a minute as she disappeared from sight and earshot.

"Whoo, mum really hates Umbridge to threaten to kill her in front of us." Ginny said in cold delight, imagining her mother putting paid to Umbridge once and for all, and Sirius allowed himself a slight grin.

"Yeah, she's rather hacked off that she's unleashed Dementors on her kids, real and surrogate, she's out for blood. The things that came from your mother's mouth last night would make you blush…" he teased, and the Weasleys all grinned in equal delight.

"Remind me to remind her of that will you Fred?" George asked, and his twin grinned mischievously.

"Definitely."

"So she isn't letting you use defensive magic? Ahh the dulcet tones of Molly yelling, must have been Mundungus at the door. Well that makes sense I suppose, we reckon that the Ministry believes that Dumbledore is training you all to be his private army, that'll be why you're not using defensive magic."

The kids were all silent, before Ron said what they were all thinking.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and we've met Luna Lovegood and had Gilderoy Lockhart for a year." He said, and Sirius sent him an appreciative grin.

"Couldn't agree more mate but that's what it is. I wish I could be more help, but I'm afraid you'll just have to do stuff on your own, study without her, it's the only way you'll pass your OWLs. How is she ripping your hand open Harry?" he asked, but before he could answer Hermione, who had been kneading her temples wearily, looked up with a kind of fervent excitement about her, and both Harry and Ron, who had noticed this, exchanged weary glances, she had one of her harebrained ideas again.

"We need a proper teacher, not a Ministry puppet like her. We need someone who knows what it's like, not just fighting the Dark Arts, but fighting Death Eaters, fighting Voldemort," she said, rolling her eyes as the Weasleys winced, "a proper teacher, who can tell us what we need to know to fight and survive them, not just school." She said, looking meaningfully at Harry, and Sirius looked at her, wincing as he did so because apparently Mrs Weasley's yelling was getting louder and more ferocious, and he gave her a curious look.

"What, do you want me to ask Lupin and Mad-Eye?" he asked, but she shook her head.

"No, we could only see them during Hogsmeade weekends, it's not enough. No, I was thinking-I was thinking of you teaching us Harry." She admitted in a squeaky voice, as though afraid he'd fly off the handle, but instead Harry laughed.

"What, you're crazy! Ron-Ron?" Harry asked, as for some bizarre reason, he looked as though he felt Hermione was on to something, as did the other Weasleys and even Sirius.

"It's not a bad idea you know, you teaching us. And I'd rather learn from you than that old tyrant any day." He told him, and Ginny nodded her agreement.

"Harry, stop looking so bemused. You're the best in your year at Defence, I snuck a peak at your last paper last year, you even beat Hermione, which is why she didn't talk to me about it," she said, earning her a scowl from Hermione, "you saved the Philosopher's Stone from You-Know-Who in your first year, saved me from his pet basilisk in your second year, saved Sirius from the Dementors in your third year, and fought him yourself the night he came back last year, if anyone can teach us what we really need to know, it's you!" she urged, and Harry looked to Sirius for support.

"Sirius, tell them they're crazy, I didn't do those things alone, I had help, tell them it's stupid…" he begged, but Sirius gave Hermione a proud look (probably because she was thinking about breaking the rules and rebelling against Umbridge and the Ministry), and turned with a grin to Harry.

"But Harry, they're right. You're exactly what you guys need right now, and speaking as your living guardian that gives a damn about you, I'd rather you could defend yourself than copy stuff out a textbook." He told him, and Harry opened his mouth then closed it, his mind buzzing with the possibilities.

"Any news on Hagrid?" Ron asked hopefully, and Sirius shook his head.

"No, but Madame Maxime told us he's alright, just taking his time to get back, but did you expect any news since you got my reply? You'll probably know before we do to be honest." He told them, but he then noticed that Harry had gone white as a sheet.

"You sent a reply back?" he asked in alarm as Hermione clambered to her feet in terror, and Sirius began looking scared as well.

"Yes, didn't you get it?" he asked hoarsely, and Harry shook his head in panic.

"I didn't get anything, Hedwig didn't have a letter, which means that…Umbridge knows!" he cried hysterically.

"RUN!" Hermione screamed, as the others all surged to their feet, determined to be gone from the crime scene as soon as possible, and Sirius began to withdraw from the fire.

But he didn't move fast enough, as a short, stubby hand adorned with ugly old rings and covered in bandages seized Sirius by the hair and began to pull him forwards.

"NO!" Harry screamed but Ron grabbed him by the chest and with the help of the twins all but dragged him to the stairs as Sirius screamed in pain as Umbridge tried to pull him to her, the fly to the toad that she was, while Harry yelled for his godfather in desperation.

XX

Mrs Weasley came back into the kitchen, her nostrils flaring now she had vented her spleen at Mundungus, to see Sirius' head far too far in the fire, and to her alarm, she saw a stubby, ring adorned hand clutching in the fireplace, trying to pull Sirius to her.

"Sirius! _Releashio_!" she cried and she heard a yelp of pain come from the fire as the hand disappeared and a frantic Sirius scrambled out of the fireplace, looking horrified.

"Thanks Molly!" he breathed, his heart hammering, and she raised a hand to her chest to try and settle her blood pressure.

She had warned him, but he had whittled her down, she was just as concerned about Harry as he was, and she was concerned about her own kids too, oh why had she agreed to let him use the floo to check on them, her motherly instincts had overridden her common sense and now they could all be in very real danger…

"Are you alright?" she demanded weakly, and he nodded, and then looked at the ceiling, his mind working overtime to try and find a way out of the mess he had gotten them into.

"We need to alert Dumbledore right away, come on!" he urged, and she took off after him as he took the stairs two at a time, setting off all the pictures in the process, on his way to warn Phineas Nigellus before Umbridge made her move.

XX

"That was a good move." Dumbledore admitted despite himself as McGonagall had just taken his queen, which rather upset his strategy a tad, well more than a tad, he'd only been left with the king, a pawn and a knight now, and she smiled.

"Thank you. You're only delaying the inevitable Albus." She taunted, and he looked over his glasses at her in disappointment, which only made her smile wider.

"Gloating does not become you Minerva." He warned, and she smirked.

"Of course it does, you just don't think it does because I'm winning." She teased, just as a voice cried out from the wall.

"Albus, Minerva, my great grandson was just using the Floo to communicate with the Potter boy,"

"He was what, we warned him not to!" McGonagall thundered, but Phineas overrode her.

"But she nearly got him, she laid hands on him, if it wasn't for the blood traitor in the house with him, she would have him!" Phineas decried and both the senior staff got to their feet in panic, just as one of the other portraits, Everard, emerged from his other portrait in the Ministry.

"Headmaster, a group of Aurors are on their way here, they say Sirius Black was caught in the fireplace in Gryffindor Tower!" he told them, and the two Order members exchanged frightened glances and thundered from his office towards Gryffindor tower.

XX

"Get those things out of here!" Ron snarled pointing his wand at Umbridge, as Harry groaned weakly on his bed behind him, and Neville, Dean and Seamus stood with him, their wands pointing at Umbridge and her party.

She had arrived a few minutes ago, flanked by six Dementors, an Auror that he didn't know, and a horror stricken Tonks, who had raised a finger to her lips to indicate quiet when she had arrived, but otherwise was very pale and was dreading what was going to happen next.

"Mr Weasley, someone within this tower was communicating with Sirius Black, I almost caught him myself," she told him sweetly, flexing her bandaged hand, which he noted with a flash of savage pleasure, "and I know it was Mr Potter with whom he was communicating. Now, step aside!" she warned in her sweetest, most deadly voice, as the Dementors surged forwards towards Harry, who was already weakened by the presence of so many of them in such close quarters, and he could hear the voices in his head now…

"Expecto-" Ron persisted, but the other Auror flicked his wand and hit Ron with a stinging hex.

"Now lad, don't cause any trouble now." He warned, and Tonks sent him an apologetic look, and Umbridge turned to the Dementors.

"Bring me Potter." She ordered, and they swept forwards, their rotting hands reaching for Harry who tried to back away and went for his wand, but they were too strong, and the others didn't know the Patronus, and they had just shoved the others out the way and the two Aurors were covering them with their wands, though Tonks looked sickened with herself for doing it…

"Madam Umbridge, I can't stand by while you use those things on an innocent boy, a minor. Call them off!" Tonks demanded, pushed to the edge and seeing the Dementors converge gleefully on Harry had robbed her of her restraint, she had to save Harry, he was getting weaker, and if Umbridge hauled him off for questioning.

"Tonks, put your wand down!" Dawlish spat, and she pointed her wand at him.

"Don't make me hex you Dawlish." She asked, though she didn't really care one way or another, she'd never liked him.

"Enough! Stand aside Tonks, or be implicated yourself, Dawlish, take her!" Umbridge spat, and the Dementors turned their attention away from Harry to observe what was happening behind him and he grabbed for his wand, determined to protect himself.

There was no contest, not really. Dawlish fired a spell that Tonks easily deflected, she then bounced a second into the ceiling and a third into the floor, before she fired a complex series of spells back at him. Umbridge yelled in fright as she dove into the staircase out the way, but Dawlish barely managed to block two spells before Tonks body bind curse caught him at a funny angle and he toppled out the doorway and thudded down a flight of stairs before turning furiously to the Dementors, who were turning their attention back to Harry.

"Call them off Umbridge!" she demanded, panicking, she could repel them, but that would really put the fat into the fire, she'd make everything worse, she could even reveal that she was working with the Order if she stood in to protect Harry, what was she to do?

"I'll have your job for this!" Umbridge spat maliciously, as one Dementor reached for Harry's neck, and Ron cried out, it was going to take him and there was nothing he could do…

"No, you won't." a voice of cold, hard power spat, and with that a gleaming silver phoenix and tabby cat blazed into the room, banishing the Dementors from the room and returning warmth and light to it.

" _Expelliarmus_!" McGonagall cried, knocking Tonks to the floor, though her wand just briefly left her fingers, giving her the briefest of apologetic glances before she and Dumbledore turned their attention to Umbridge while the students clustered around a weak and shaking Harry, Ron wrapping his arms around him protectively, blood pounding in his head in fury.

"How dare you bring Dementors into the living quarters of the students?" Dumbledore stormed, power radiating off him and Umbridge took a step back in slight alarm, he looked on the verge of losing control, and McGonagall was shaking in barely checked rage, she wanted nothing more than to rip Umbridge's throat out with her bare hands.

"You forget headmaster that I, as High Inquisitor, am responsible for school security! The mass murderer Sirius Black was in communication with someone in Gryffindor tower, so I came here and-"

"Came here and attacked an innocent boy without any evidence or forethought! How dare you!" McGonagall stormed, her face crimson with anger, and Umbridge pulled herself up to her full height, which seemed rather feeble when both Dumbledore and McGonagall towered over her.

"A mass murderer was speaking with a member of your house Minerva, and if anyone is linked to him, it would be Potter, he has a picture of him in his album…"

"Because he was my dad's best friend, he was the best man at their wedding." Harry ground out as Ron once more somehow conjured a chocolate frog from somewhere and practically force fed him it.

"And as he was involved in Sirius Black's escape from your incompetent custody,"

"INCOMPETENT?" McGonagall roared, beside herself, red sparks emitting from her wand.

"It stands to reason that he is the one in league with Sirius Black!" Umbridge screeched, stomping her foot.

"It does not. You entered this room, with Dementors no less, and attacked Harry and his classmates with those disgusting creatures on the basis of a theory. You have no proof that it was Harry or anyone else that Black was communicating with, perhaps he was merely scouting out how easy it would be to get into the castle? You have overstretched your authority, and I want you to get out of this dormitory right now." Dumbledore intoned, his entire body streaming power, and he was shaking he was so furious, and Umbridge, foolishly, tried to resist him.

"No Dumbledore, I am in charge of school security, and I _will_ interrogate Potter! He is guilty, and I will prove it, I will take him to the Wizengamot to give evidence, and if people still think he is innocent then he will be released with our apologies, but until then he presents a clear and present danger to the school!" she raged, but Harry, his strength returning from the chocolate Ron had given him, got to his feet, his anger erupting.

"He helped murder my parents you stupid cow! Why would I want to work with him?" he demanded, hating himself, but also relishing insulting Umbridge, who blinked stupidly.

"Wh-what?" she demanded weakly, and Harry stormed forwards, and it was only the two teachers raising their hands to halt his progress that prevented a furious Harry from snapping her neck. His anger, so close to the surface nowadays anyway, had been stimulated by an attack by Dementors in his own bedroom, and now he was having to disavow his godfather to save his own skin.

"He sold my parents to Voldemort, so why would I want to work with him? Explain that!" he stormed, and she opened and closed her mouth like a guppy, before looking to a furious Dumbledore.

"Is that true?" she whimpered, and he nodded savagely.

"Yes, which if you had bothered to investigate at all, you might have known. By all means Dolores, take Harry before the Wizengamot, I'm sure the Ministry would relish another humiliation at the hands of a fifteen year old boy." He snapped, and she mumbled something, outfoxed.

"What?" McGonagall spat, praying Umbridge would make one wrong move.

"Perhaps I was mistaken, I merely thought…" she began, and McGonagall's nostrils flared.

"No, you didn't." she spat, and a humiliated Umbridge was now scarlet with embarrassment, then she raised her spiteful glare onto Harry.

"Fifty points will be taken for your insult Potter!" she crowed with relish, clearly believing she could still get a slight victory out of this debacle.

"Sure, take points. I'm sure the parents of the school will think that's worth it when what you did tonight appears in the papers, barging into a roomful of kids with Dementors and Aurors all because you didn't even think, yeah, they'll love that." Ron mocked, and while her face crumpled into a pout as if she was about to have a temper tantrum, she backed down.

"Very well, fifty points from Mr Potter but…I suppose fifteen to each of you, for the trauma I wrongly put you through." She said through gritted teeth, and the students glared at her before she turned and stormed down the stairs in a huff, and they faintly heard the Fat Lady slam shut.

"I'm so sorry!" Tonks cried, hugging both Harry and Ron who hugged her back fiercely, and she winked at Neville before looking nervously at Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"Thank you for doing the right thing Nymphadora. I will make sure there are no retributions, I will inform Amelia of what happened as soon as I get back to my office." Dumbledore assured her, squeezing her hand and she gave them a weak smile, waved a last farewell to Harry and Ron and vanished from sight.

"Which do you want?" McGonagall asked, and Dumbledore, still pulsing fury, flared his nostrils.

"I'm away to London, I have a couple of stops to make." He snarled and swept from the room, bound for the Ministry so he could tear Fudge a new one, and for Grimmauld Place so he could eviscerate Sirius and Molly for letting him do something so foolhardy which had nearly gotten them all in serious peril.

McGonagall breathed weakly before turning to Harry.

"An extra ten points for doing the right thing." She said, noting the tortured expression on his face and clapping his shoulder kindly, though he looked sickened with himself.

"Professor, she barged in here…" Seamus spat, and her eyes flashed.

"I know Finnegan, I will ensure she does not do so again. You all performed admirably, standing in defence of your companion. I am very proud of all of you, ten points to each of you. Now, if you all feel alright, Mr Weasley I'm sure your classmates would not object to one of your never ending supply of chocolate frogs, and try and get some sleep. I will inform you in the morning when I know more." She promised, and exchanged a last proud look with Harry and Ron, gave Harry a brief understanding nod, and left the room, managing not to slam the door as she did so.

"Thank you." Harry whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear, and Ron wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Are you ok?" he asked, bringing him into a hug, and Harry nodded as he was pressed against his chest.

"Yeah. Thanks." He said softly, pulling away from Ron and looking up at his best friend.

And then, all of a sudden, he was gripped by this desire to kiss Ron, to kiss his best friend. Shaking his head, he was clearly messed up from the Dementor attack and Umbridge nearly catching both him and Sirius, he pushed the thought from his mind, but it did linger, wondering what it would be like to kiss him…

"I'm here for you mate." Ron promised, reluctantly letting Harry pull away, giving his hand a last stroke as he did so, and head to his bed, while Dean peered out the window before turning back to them, looking satisfied.

"Our usual honour guard of Dementors has slinked back to the walls, they mustn't want another kicking. Night." He said cheerfully, and Harry clambered into bed, still hating himself for disavowing Sirius but was asleep within moments.

Ron's gaze lingered on his best friend, but figuring he without the Dementors floating around, Harry wouldn't need him tonight, he got into his own bed, once more contemplating what it would be like to kiss Harry.

And Harry slept the whole night, the best night he'd had in a while, and all through it, he dreamed of him and Ron, in that alcove, being considerably more than just best friends.

XX

"The whole staff are furious, it's all over the school. But last night was far too close." Hermione whispered, and George nodded fervently.

"Too true, if she'd caught Sirius, or us, we'd all have been for the high jump. But worse, barging into you guys dormitory, those damn things could have killed you all, it's not like she'd be able to stop them!" he exclaimed, horrified and furious at the same time, and he squeezed Hermione's hand as she shuddered.

"Well," Ginny said in satisfaction, as Umbridge was looking rather miserable at the staff table, "the Dementors have vanished from the main corridors, they're still in the school but there's fewer of them. I think they're in retreat because she was humiliated." She said with relish, and Fred looked worriedly at Harry.

"You ok?" he asked, and Harry ignored him, biting his lip before he addressed Hermione.

Last night had made him feel totally helpless, and had they attacked, the Dementors could have killed them all. He'd been thinking about it all morning, at some times Hermione's idea seemed totally mad, but at others, he could actually see himself giving lessons, he was subconsciously planning them in his head. And what was more, he was so sick of Umbridge tormenting him, of her winning, of her making his life totally miserable, he wanted to do something, he wanted to lash out, make her suffer, and he couldn't think of any better way to do it than by doing the exact opposite of what she wanted done.

"Did you mean it? You think people will want to be taught by me?" he asked softly, and her face broke into an unexpected smile at his question.

"I really do Harry, yeah. So, are you up for it?" she asked excitedly, and he could feel the eyes of the others on him, all of them smouldering with hope, and he shrugged, but gave her a half smile.

"If you think people will want to be taught by a nutter like me, then yeah, I'll give it a try. I must be mad, but I'm fed up of my life being used as a punch bag, I want to do a bit punching back. So if you think it'll work, then go ahead." He told her, and she smiled proudly as she assured him;

"It will Harry, you'll see. Just leave it to me. You have more friends than you think."

 **Umbridge truly is evil, and because she has Fudge behind her, the teachers can do nothing to stop her, absolutely nothing. So now shes been made High Inquisitor, unleashed Dementors on the school which she will use to torture Harry, is torturing Harry in detentions, is planning to inspect the teachers, has nearly caught Sirius and I can promise she's only going to get worse as the year goes on**

 **But the DA is to be formed, and both Harry and Ron are seeing each other in a new light, where will that lead?**

 **Anyway, let me know what you think, please read and review!**


	5. Solidarity

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Harry Potter, otherwise I wouldnt be flying budget to New York**

Right Here IV

Ron had rather optimistically hoped, just for a brief second, that the humiliation that Umbridge had been dealt would have been enough to humble her at least a little bit, perhaps make her ease off in her actions, if only slightly.

However, the day after the near miss in the fire, Ron was forcibly reminded as to why when things started to go wrong, he generally wasn't the one who played the optimism card, because Umbridge, furious that between them, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Tonks and Harry had made her look a fool, was determined to reach new heights of previously unimagined viciousness, which was a task that she took to with great gusto.

As she was now based at Hogwarts, her ability to enact retribution on Tonks was rather diminished, however, despite Dumbledore having informed Amelia Bones of what had happened in the dormitory the previous night, Tonks was still suspended. It seemed that Umbridge, determined to salvage even a minor victory after her humiliation, had gone straight to Fudge and had gotten him involved in the affair, and Fudge, just as annoyed as she was that they hadn't been able to get the better of Harry or Dumbledore, had had Tonks suspended without pay. Harry, Ron and Hermione had heard McGonagall telling Snape as they entered the great hall for breakfast that morning, and even Snape seemed willing to talk at just enough of a volume that the trio could hear what was being said. However, Snape had then muttered that Tonks being suspended for a couple of weeks provided some useful opportunities. As the two teachers had made for their own table, McGonagall had agreed, which soothed their fears that Tonks was getting into trouble because of them slightly.

However, while Tonks was only really collateral damage in the power games being played between Umbridge and Dumbledore, Umbridge was a much greater threat within Hogwarts, and as she sat up at the staff table, glowering around the room, her frog like face filled with loathing as her eyes frequently fell on Harry, it was clear that she had spent quite some time contemplating how best to avenge her defeat and get back at those who had gotten the better of her. Harry had tried to eat his breakfast as he normally would, but the adrenaline left over from the near miss the night before, and also the malicious look that Umbridge was giving him, was making him worry so much that he was having quite a hard time keeping his breakfast going the way through his body that it was meant to be, and not going in the reverse.

"What can she do though? She might have Fudge and the Ministry backing her, but at the end of the day, Dumbledore and McGonagall still run the show around here." Ron pointed out, and Hermione gave him a sceptical look as they climbed the stairs towards Transfiguration.

"Are you really that naïve Ron? She's going to want revenge, she thought she had all of us dead to rights and Harry wormed his way out of it, and in the process made her look a complete fool. Mark my words, the evil old toad is going to be out for blood on this one." She predicted darkly as they entered the classroom.

For the first five minutes, class carried on as it usually would, with the homework being returned from the previous session, and to Harry's immense relief, despite everything else, he had gotten an A, meaning he had at least passed. Not caring that Hermione was unabashedly displaying her O, and was also trying to spy both his and Ron's results, Harry turned his attention to McGonagall who was speaking with Neville.

"I have to say Longbottom, I was very pleased with your homework, very pleased indeed." She congratulated with a small smile, and the rest of the class all gave Neville smiles of encouragement, it wasn't exactly a secret that he wasn't stellar at Transfiguration.

Upon hearing this, Hermione desisted in her attempts to see Harry and Ron's results, and instead spied Neville's, smiling as she saw that he had managed to get an E.

"Now, today we will return to the theoretical approach to the vanishing of objects, your homework shows that the majority of you have a good grasp of the basics," McGonagall said, her eyes raking over the class, "and we will begin studying exactly how the vanishing of objects can be made more or less difficult with the intricacies of the creature or item attempting to be vanished, notes are on the board, copy them down and we will examine-"

" _Hem hem_." Came that sickly sweet, annoying as all hell faux cough from the doorway and McGonagall's nostrils flared as the entire class went still, scenting danger as McGonagall glared at the newcomer.

"Professor Umbridge." McGonagall greeted civilly, though the rage she was feeling was obvious to everyone in the room as the pink clad toad like Ministry crony entered the classroom.

"I apologise for my lateness Professor McGonagall, I had things to see to with the Dementors," Umbridge said, barely concealing the fact that she was gloating that despite everything the Dementors were still present, "but now I am able to inspect your lesson. You received my note this morning I trust?"

McGonagall's mouth went into a thin line, but she nodded stiffly.

"Of course I did, or I would have asked what you were doing barging into my classroom. Now, if you'll excuse me?" she asked pointedly, and gestured for Umbridge to sit at a corner in the classroom.

Umbridge's face coloured in fury at being dismissed so easily and opened her mouth to protest again.

"I wonder, Dolores, how you intend to evaluate my teaching if you insist on keeping me from actually teaching my class with this meaningless donkeytwaddle? Once I have set my class off with the lesson, only then may you interrupt me, for until then I don't usually permit speaking when I am speaking, and if even Professors Dumbledore and Snape respect that, surely you should as well?" she asked pointedly, and it was clear that Umbridge was furious, but even she apparently had the sense to see she would be fighting a losing battle, and desisted, sitting down in the corner and furiously scribbling away on her notepad while McGonagall, smirking ever so slightly as her class looked at her in delight, and then continued to teach her lesson as though she hadn't been interrupted at all.

After concluding teaching the class the theory of the spell they were to learn, all the while ignoring Umbridge and the scratching of her hideous pink quill, McGonagall allowed them to focus on trying to vanish a snail (Ron let out a sigh of relief when he saw the box contained snails rather than spiders). As McGonagall moved about the class, instructing the students and helping when needed, Umbridge finally came out of her corner, her doughy eyes scanning the room, and as she did so, Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Harry!" Ron hissed, and confused, he looked at his friend, who was pointing at his snail, and quickly waved his wand to reduce it in size, as it was currently the size of a cucumber, but fortunately McGonagall hasn't noticed.

"So Mr Longbottom, do you enjoy this class?" Umbridge asked as McGonagall was assisting Parvati, but out of the corner of her eye Hermione saw her teacher's back stiffen, and she exchanged a concerned look with Harry and Ron, Umbridge had to know that Neville wasn't particularly fond of Transfiguration.

"Well, it's ok I guess…" Neville mumbled, before Umbridge seized his homework and scanned over it.

"An E, are you pleased with this mark Longbottom?" she asked sharply, and he nodded, glaring at her defiantly.

"Yes." He said stoutly, and behind them, McGonagall was striving not to get involved.

"A borderline E, surely you should be doing better by now?" Umbridge challenged, eyes glinting maliciously, and McGonagall span angrily, prepared to come to her student's defence.

However, she didn't need to. Neville glowered at her and got to his feet, his chin jutting out defiantly.

"No, because I'm not great at Transfiguration, I never have been and I don't particularly enjoy it, so yeah, I'm quite happy getting an E for a subject that I know I can't do very well." He sneered at her, and Umbridge forced a small sweet smile.

"Thank you Mr Longbottom you've been very helpful." She purred, and Harry suddenly felt the bottom drop out of his stomach, there was something about the way the evil Ministry hag was smiling that filled him with foreboding.

However for the rest of the lesson Umbridge didn't question any of the other students, she simply appraised their previous pieces of homework before heading to McGonagall's desk and promptly sitting in it. So far, despite her best efforts, McGonagall had remained in control of her temper, however with Umbridge now sitting in her chair the last of her very tenuous patience evaporated.

"May I help you Dolores?" she snapped, and Umbridge smiled up at her.

"Why yes Minerva. Now you've been teaching here at Hogwarts for how long exactly?" she asked, and McGonagall looked at her disdainfully.

"Thirty nine years this December, why?" she asked, and Umbridge smiled.

"Oh nothing to worry about, we just need to fill out our information on the teacher's backgrounds, your record is after all rather spotty since you left the Ministry following your affair with your superior…" she purred just as the bell rang, which was just as well because Harry was sure he noticed her mutter something under her breath that no student would ever have imagined her to utter.

"First of all, I did not have an affair with my superior. Secondly, I left the Ministry in good terms, as I felt that becoming a teacher would suit me far better than working with people in the Ministry, and during my time there my relationship with Elphinstone was strictly professional. And thirdly, you have no business airing my personal life in the middle of a class in front of my students, how dare you?" she raged and Umbridge just gave her a self satisfied smirk.

"I am the High Inquisitor Minerva, which entitles me to ask any questions that I feel are relevant to my investigation into yourself and your teaching practices. And if I were you, I would control that temper of yours before I come by for my second inspection this afternoon." She gloated and left, and as the class filed out in her wake, Harry turned to look back to see McGonagall scarlet with fury, her hand clasping her wand handle, and wondered that if the class had left first, if Umbridge would still be a problem if there hadn't been any witnesses to whatever McGonagall might have done.

XX

"Well it's not like Black's going to come barging into the castle is it, he's tried it before and he didn't succeed! Why on earth aren't they letting us practice?" Angelina demanded angrily at dinner that night, but Harry wasn't paying much attention to his team captain, instead he was looking at Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining his band of cronies with a very amusing story, and the only person in the whole great hall who looked as smug as he did was Umbridge, which was a notion that rather filled him with dread.

As Umbridge had now usurped control of school security and was making everyone jump through hoops at the imagined threat that Sirius posed, and as a result quidditch practice was now seriously lagging behind where it would normally be, especially with only a month left until the first match, which would be Gryffindor against Slytherin.

"And did you notice the Dementors are edging back into the castle? Apparently their balls have regrown since last night." Fred mentioned with a dark look on his face as one floated past the window, and Ron chewed his stew thoughtfully.

"Have any of the other teams been able to practice?" he asked, and Angelina shook her head, scowling darkly.

"No, but you'll never guess who went to Umbridge and double booked the quidditch pitch all weekend this morning?" she asked nastily, throwing a dirty look over her shoulder, and Ginny scowled over at the Slytherin table as well.

"Malfoy, of course he did, he'll be cosying on up to her, like his father does at the Ministry. Harry, what is it?" she asked, noticing Harry's preoccupation with Malfoy, and he glowered over at the blond at the other table.

"Malfoy, he's far too cheerful, and even taking the quidditch stuff as well, he seems too smug even for him, I don't like it." He grumbled, and Hermione looked at him sceptically.

"He's always smug Harry." She pointed out, but as she looked over, she did see what Harry meant, Malfoy did look a little too pleased with himself for her comfort as well.

Ron however wasn't paying attention because he had happened to look up at the staff table and saw Umbridge getting to her feet, smiling malevolently, and sending a smug, malicious look in Malfoy's direction, who raised his goblet to her in salute, and suddenly Ron went very cold as he realised what this meant.

"Oh no…McGonagall." He mumbled, and as one the entire table went silent as she stood before the staff table, and now, their curiosity piqued, though not without the rolling of some eyes, the staff also all turned their attention towards Umbridge.

"Hem hem…I'm afraid students that I have some rather bad news. As you know, my role as High Inquisitor gives me the privilege of inspecting my fellow educators and to see if they are coming quite up to scratch. I undertook my solemn duty today, as I have no wish to disrespect my esteemed and learned colleagues," she purred, turning and bowing towards the staff, all of whom seemed to lance her with a furious glare at once.

"Yeah right." The twins sneered in unison, to hearty nods from the others nearby.

"But I undertook my duty nonetheless. And I'm very sorry to say," she simpered, though she did not look sorry at all, in fact she looked absolutely delighted, "that Professor McGonagall is now on probation for her consistent poor standards in dealing with classes, a horrific inability to help students improve upon what are quite frankly feeble test scores throughout the course of the year, and has a clear bias against those not of her own house which is of course detrimental to all of your learning. So Professor McGonagall, you are now officially on probation, and if you wish to continue teaching at this school, I would work very hard to ensure that you come up to scratch very quickly, or I may sadly have to inform the Minister that I will have to dismiss you. Do you understand me? You-must-improve-or-be-fired!" Umbridge crowed in her sickly sweet voice, clearly relishing what she was doing, her eyes dancing malevolently as she talked down to McGonagall like she was a child, savouring every second of McGonagall's humiliation as she did so.

McGonagall got to her feet furiously, her face crimson with anger, her entire body shaking in rage, and the other staff all got to their feet angrily in her defence, all of them glaring at Umbridge furiously, even Snape looked livid at this unprofessional, humiliating and personal attack on his colleague.

"How dare you?" Sprout roared angrily as the entire Gryffindor table got to their feet and began a deafening row, all of them yelling abuse at Umbridge, and were soon joined in short order by the nearly as enraged Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, and even some Slytherins, including Theo Nott and Daphne Greengrass got to their feet adding to the general din.

"ENOUGH!" Umbridge yelled, stomping her foot, which only served to add fuel to the fire, while at the Slytherin table, Crabbe and Goyle were trying to intimidate their fellow Slytherins who weren't toeing the party line into sitting back down.

The hall looked on the verge of erupting into a full blown riot, and the general din was getting louder, and to make matters worse several people were reaching for their wands, and it looked like the entire place was about to erupt.

However, McGonagall simply took a steadying breath and raised her hand, and the ruckus simmered down to barely audible, all of them awaiting her instructions, and it was hardly a secret that if she said 'attack', Umbridge would be a smear on the ground.

"That will do. Sit down, all of you. And thank you." She added earnestly, and the near entirety of the student body, simmering with resentment, glared at Umbridge as they all sat down, though many remained clutching their wands, longing to use them against Umbridge.

The entirety of the staff however remained on their feet, all of them looking murderous and it seemed to dawn on Umbridge in that moment just how foolish a move she had made, as she was now caught in the middle of two very angry audiences, who had made it clear they would like nothing more than to rip her limb from limb.

"Now…Professor Umbridge, if you wish to put me on probation, that is of course up to you, and I will _reluctantly_ ," Professor McGonagall enunciated, the last word apparently tasting like poison in her mouth, "acquiesce, and will endeavour to improve upon my teaching style. Now, your lack of professional decorum notwithstanding, if it's all the same to you, I will excuse myself. I've rather lost my appetite. But, just one thing for you to think on Dolores…you screamed at the students to stop, and they didn't heed your instructions. Whereas I, on the other hand, simply made a reasonable, calm request of them and they stopped immediately. Just something for you to ponder, when you are writing your report on my so called incompetence as a teacher. Good evening." McGonagall said, and with the dignity the school had come to expect from her throughout her long, dedicated and exemplary service, she simply left the staff table and descended the stairs, not even deigning to look at Umbridge as she did so, her head held high.

Ernie Macmillan started it, getting to his feet and starting to clap. All of Gryffindor then rose to their feet and added their applause to his, and with that, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and a good portion of Slytherin also did the same thing, their applause defiantly filling the hall while Umbridge looked on furiously, her face darkening in impotent rage as McGonagall swept through the hall, but Umbridge was determined, petty as she was, to have the last word.

"I am Hogwarts High Inquisitor! It is up to me if you are a good teacher or not!" she screeched churlishly above the din, and McGonagall, who had come to the end of the tables, turned to face her, her eyes alight with fury, her mouth as thin as it had ever been, and her hand twitching for her wand, which stopped the applause.

"Indeed it is Professor Umbridge. But it would seem that the students have made that observation for you. Good evening." She said courteously, and reached for the door, but it was clear that the students still had her back as they all started shouting out support for McGonagall, and her mouth twitched ever so slightly into the barest hint of a smile as she made to leave the room.

The whole of the Gryffindor table then began to move towards the door, flanking McGonagall as an honour guard, all of them glaring at an increasingly impotent Umbridge.

"All of you will SIT DOWN! I am the High Inquisitor, and I have decreed that she is a substandard teacher, and you will all follow my instructions!" she screamed furiously, spit flying from her mouth as she struggled to regain control.

"A substandard teacher is she? She is a million times better teacher than you will ever be, and at least she can do more than make us read a textbook. At least Lockhart had the decency to look incompetent. You don't even need to bother." Harry, whose blood was pounding furiously through his veins on behalf of his head of house, spat back at Umbridge, and McGonagall stopped in the doorway, but Ginny, who was standing right beside her, was sure she saw a brief flash of delight on her face as she turned to face Umbridge one last time while the rest of the house applauded and whistled at Harry's comment.

"Detention Potter, for another week. I will not be disrespected by the likes of you in front of the entire school." Umbridge hissed malevolently, and Ron arced an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, so you can do it to others, but no one can do it back? Don't want your feelings to get hurt I suppose." He taunted, and her eyes bulged in fury.

"And the same goes for you Weasley. Now all of you, get out of my sight! Dinner is being served, and you lot are only disrupting the evening meal." She spat, and Hermione, the last Gryffindor in the hall, gave Umbridge a mocking smile.

"Don't worry, we've all rather lost our appetite anyway, the presence of certain individuals has made us all feel rather sick unfortunately. Good night professor." She sneered, and several other students from other houses began to get to their feet to follow them out as Hermione brought up the rear of the entirety of Gryffindor house, smirking a little as Umbridge screamed one final time.

"And detention for you too Granger!" she screeched as the doors slammed shut behind the Gryffindors, sealing the Ministry toadie inside.

XX

"Are you alright?" Dumbledore asked his deputy head teacher as the two of them enjoyed a private dinner in his office, and McGonagall, who still looked furious, nodded.

"Yes, I wont be judged by the likes of her." She spat, savagely cutting into a potato, as she had been rather peckish before her humiliation before her students.

"I am sorry she did that to you, she and I will have words. Obviously she was out for revenge because we humiliated her last night, and used her own bias against you to inform her choice to suspend you." Dumbledore concluded darkly, and she sniffed angrily.

"She knew exactly what she was doing. She singled out all the students who just aren't good at Transfiguration and used their results as justification. Well, that and the testimonies of select fifth years." She grumbled with a scowl, and Dumbledore's eyes flashed with an anger of his own, he had a shrewd idea of who those select fifth years were, and he would be having words with Snape about them for a start.

"I am sorry though Minerva, if I had any control over this, this absurd probation would never have happened, you are one of the most exemplary members of staff I have, and I could not run the school without you. And while she is technically allowed to put you on probation, as far as I am concerned, she has not got the authority or right to declare any of my staff unfit to teach." He said fiercely, and she allowed a small smile.

"Thank you Albus. I know I am a good teacher, and what is more, all of this is merely because she was humiliated and made to look a fool last night, and not even an accurate or unbiased reflection upon my abilities." She assured him, and he toasted her with his glass, a small twinkle coming back into his eyes.

"Indeed not my old friend." He saluted, and the two of them ate in companionable silence until there was an urgent knock on the door.

"Enter!" he called, and was relieved to see that it was Sprout, Snape and Flitwick, all of whom still looked furious over the insulting way that she had been treated by Umbridge.

"Minerva, are you alright?" Sprout asked sharply, laying a hand on her friend's shoulder, and she nodded, smiling a little.

"I'm fine Pomona thank you." She assured her, and Flitwick looked up at Dumbledore, beside himself with fury.

"Albus, what she did, in front of not only her colleagues but her students as well, that was totally unforgivable, and what's more, it's a load of nonsense! Minerva is a fantastic teacher, and Umbridge…" he ranted, but Dumbledore held up a hand, staying the flow of anger from his diminutive colleague.

"I am aware of exactly what Umbridge did, and rest assured, she and I will be having words," he assured them, the cold, merciless fire blazing in his eyes again, "but we should have realised she would do something like this to get back at us for last night. But I think she has rather overextended herself actually." He mused, and Snape, lurking in the corner of the room, raised an eyebrow.

"Really headmaster? She still has to inspect the rest of us as well, and if she took down Minerva in her first salvo, do you really think she will let up?" he asked, and Dumbledore nodded, mulling it over as he chewed on his roast beef.

"I do indeed Severus. Dolores knows she has overstepped, she put Minerva on probation, yes, which is a victory for her. However, doing so on her first real day on the job as High Inquisitor has given those who did not yet have it the measure of her, revealing her to be vindictive and petty. She also antagonised the vast majority of the school and proved that she is not being fair and objective in her actions. And from what Minerva has said, I think she has realised that she isn't best served by antagonising the students and the staff against her at the same time. She will I think keep her head down for a while, however, other than Minerva, who she was always going to target regardless, though admittedly I didn't anticipate she would do quite so recklessly, there are only two other members of staff who she will overtly target until she has regained what face she lost screeching in front of the students: Sybill and Hagrid but that is a battle for later on." He admitted ruefully, and Sprout smiled, taking a slice of bread from the basket on Dumbledore's desk.

"We only stayed a few extra minutes after you left Minerva, she was furious. Most of the school walked out, and the sheer loyalty the Gryffindors displayed, the defiance, it has seriously antagonised her, she was muttering under her breath and pouting despite her so called victory."

"I was very touched by the actions of the students." McGonagall admitted, smiling a little as she remember her entire house flanking her and escorting her out like some pubescent honour guard giving a proverbial finger to the so called High Inquisitor.

"What I want to know is what evidence she used to actually put you on probation in the first place." Flitwick snarled, and McGonagall sipped her drink, trying not to get too angry just thinking about it.

"She singled out students who she knew weren't particularly good at Transfiguration, ones like Neville Longbottom and Justin Finch-Fletchey and used their scores, and the oh so reliable testimonies of people like Draco Malfoy and his cronies, he was delighted to have an excuse to badmouth me to her." She sneered, and Snape, surprisingly said nothing, while both Sprout and Flitwick looked angry at the mere mention of his name.

"So he trumped up charges to make you look bad to Dolores, that's why he looked so smug at dinner." Sprout spat, and Dumbledore silently conveyed his wish to talk to Snape about that with a single look, and Snape merely looked bored but nodded, indicating he would talk with him (for the umpteenth time).

"Either way, I think she's only just getting started." Flitwick said with a scowl, and Dumbledore nodded, before realising that in their show of solidarity, his staff were rather peckish.

"Dobby?" he called, and the house elf cracked into being beside him, bowing low.

"What can I do for you Professor Dumbledore sir?" he asked as he came back up, and Dumbledore smiled.

"I think the others would appreciate a meal themselves Dobby. And also, several sets of sandwiches should go to the common rooms for those students who made a show of solidarity with Professor McGonagall." He said kindly, and Dobby smiled.

"Of course professor sir, at once!" he exclaimed, bowing to the other staff before vanishing with a loud crack, and McGonagall frowned thoughtfully as she chewed her Yorkshire pudding.

"What I worry is, if this is only the start of the year…what else lies in store?" she asked ominously, and nobody had an answer for her, which didn't exactly fill her with confidence.

XX

"That was evil, even for her." Ron spat, as the entire house raged inside the common room, and Parvati, still fuming herself, looked around worriedly all of a sudden.

"Where's Neville?" she asked, worried Umbridge had gotten to him for walking out on her like the rest of the house, but Colin Creevey waved a hand, dismissing her concerns.

"Don't worry, I think he's kind of blaming himself for what the evil old cow did to McGonagall, I think he's waiting at her office for her." He explained, and Lee Jordan scowled.

"It wasn't Neville, looking at the Slytherins, its not exactly rocket science to figure out who stitched McGonagall up." He roared, to hearty applause and nods from the others present.

"She wanted revenge for last night, that's why she went after McGonagall." Harry simmered furiously, and Hermione nodded, glaring into the flames.

"She's one of the best teachers here, and much more effective than that old crone. Did you see how scared she looked when we all got to our feet? She was terrified we were literally going to kill her." She purred in satisfaction, and Ron shrugged.

"Pity really, it would have gotten rid of her." He mused, and Harry looked deep into the fire, contemplating all that had happened since Umbridge had arrived at Hogwarts.

An out and out dictator, not letting them use magic, completely power hungry, determined to avoid the truth about Voldemort, torturing students, not teaching them properly, spying on them, bringing Dementors into the school, stopping them speaking with Sirius, turning students against each other, attacking teachers…

The list went on and on, and earlier, seeing McGonagall, who Harry had a great deal of affection for despite how strict she could be, reduced and humiliated like that in front of the entire school, had filled him with a burning desire for vengeance, to do something, anything that would get back at Umbridge, and as murder was frowned upon (regretfully in this case) he had to do something else.

"You really think people will want to learn from me?" he asked Hermione in an undertone, and she looked at him in surprise, but nodded.

"Yes Harry, I do." She insisted, and he nodded, then looked at her, his green eyes blazing furiously.

"Then set it up. Tonight she crossed a line. She wants control over Hogwarts? We'll make her fight tooth and nail for every little inch, and we'll arm people so they're reading to fight Voldemort." He insisted, and both Ron and Hermione looked at the furious look kindling in Harry's eyes, the burning fire and desire to do something, and both of them grinned, believing for the first time so far that this year something was finally going their way.

XX

"Longbottom?" McGonagall asked in surprise as she returned to her office later that night, and Neville, who had been dozing slightly while sitting on the floor outside her room, scrambled to his feet.

"Professor! I'm sorry, I was waiting for you and dozed off…" he mumbled nervously, and she nodded.

"Perfectly understandable, I didn't intend to be away so long. What can I do for you Mr Longbottom?" she asked, and he looked at her apologetically.

"Professor, I'm so sorry, it's my fault she put you on probation, she was looking at my results and-" he began but she raised a hand to cut him off, a kind smile on her face.

"It isn't your fault Neville, it was nothing to do with you, it was her and her alone, she simply used you as a pawn to get to me. Don't feel bad about it. But thank you for coming to see me." She said kindly, and leaving Neville very confused, she clapped his shoulder before sending him on his way, wondering just how much worse things were about to get.

XX

After what happened to Professor McGonagall, the school was rather eager to get to the weekend. The day after McGonagall was put on probation, the Dementors once more returned to the school corridors, and once more began zeroing in on Harry, which made him weak, short tempered and irritable. Umbridge had monitored several other teacher's classes, but hadn't bothered to put them on probation, apparently she was satisfied with her current pound of flesh as it stood. Well either that or she didn't want to risk her life in an all out riot should she go after someone else with a great deal of student loyalty. McGonagall kept Harry back after class, and thanked him personally for the loyalty he had shown her in the remark that he had made to Umbridge.

The main argument now plaguing the school was that of quidditch, and the fact that the only team that had had any decent amount of practice was the Slytherins, and with the first match approaching rapidly the other teams needed practice as well. As such, the heads of house had all pleaded with Dumbledore when they all had a free period and Umbridge did not, to allow them to practice, and as a result, and partly due to Umbridge trying to appease the furious headmaster, she had acquiesced, after a long drawn out argument, in which she had resisted every argument Dumbledore had presented to her, but eventually, with the proviso that Madam Hooch be present, the other teams could practice, but it was clear that she was not happy with being forced to back down or that she was being overridden by Dumbledore, which would undoubtedly spell trouble down the line.

The new security measures, particularly the Dementors, were having a toll on the entire school, and the fact that Umbridge was citing Sirius as the reason for these absurd new measures was increasing Harry's already rather foul mood. Hermione had caused a stir in the last Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson of the week however, to Harry's great delight. After having her hand up for nearly the entirety of the lesson, obviously not going to back down and give Umbridge the satisfaction, Umbridge finally caved and demanded to know what she wanted. Hermione then asked, if the Ministry was so worried Sirius would attack again, why they wouldn't allow them to use defensive magic to be able to protect themselves as there was apparently a dangerous mass murder on the loose. The entire class had looked at Hermione in delight as Umbridge had spluttered, furious at having been outwitted, eventually snapped that the Dementors were more than sufficient to protect them, docked fifty points and gave Hermione another detention.

But now it was the day of the Hogsmeade weekend, and Harry's insides were filled with a strange fluttering as they headed down to the Hog's Head pub to meet all those who Ron and Hermione had sounded out as being potentially interested in learning from Harry. He had been so ready, so determined to do something, to prove that Voldemort was back, to get back at Umbridge, but now that the opportunity was here, what on earth did he do now? Why would any of his classmates want to listen to him, when he was meant to be a trouble making, attention seeking nutter? Would he be bothered if anyone didn't turn up?

"Relax Harry it'll be fine." Ron assured him, but Harry simply nodded silently, still mulling it all over in his head as they headed down to town.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that there's no Dementors floating around town?" Hermione mused as they entered the village, and Harry shrugged.

"She doesn't need them down here, the Ministry can control any problem down here, she'd rather have half of Azkaban up at the castle making sure we're all toeing the line, she can't hold the village hostage like she can us." He grumbled, and Ron had to admit, Harry's reasoning did have a certain logic to it.

"Either way it's good to get a break from the school like this, the entire place is so tense right now it's ridiculous, Umbridge is making everyone's life a misery." Hermione complained, inspecting her hand, which was beginning to be imprinted with the words 'I must not challenge superior Ministry policy'.

Harry grinned as she led them towards the Hog's Head.

"You're becoming rather rebellious in your old age Hermione. Clearly we've had a good influence on you." He teased, and Ron laughed while Hermione gave him a mocking scowl in response.

"I wouldn't necessarily say you've been a good influence." She retorted which made the other two laugh all the more.

They approached the Hog's Head, and following Hermione's lead, they looked around nervously, while Hermione said she had checked with Flitwick about the legality of students being here, it seemed a lot more risky than heading into the Three Broomsticks.

"Are you sure we're allowed in?" Ron asked, eyeing the place worriedly, even more so when two goats seemed to stroll into the bar off the street, which were the only patrons they had seen enter in the last five minutes, as opposed to how the Three Broomsticks would be on a Hogwarts weekend.

"Yes, come on." Hermione decided, and shoved Harry in front of her, ignoring his protest as she did so, and shoved him into the bar first.

The bartender was a tall bearded man who Harry thought had an air of familiarity about him. The two goats that they had seen entering were now sitting at the bar, both of them with a drink in front of them. Deciding not to dwell on that strange picture, Harry got them each a butterbeer and they sat down somewhere they could keep an eye on the door.

"Weird place isn't it? You can see why Rosmerta does a better trade." Ron muttered under his breath, and as Harry took in the rest of the bar, he could also see why a dragon dealer who just happened to have Voldemort sticking out the back of his head wouldn't have been out of place here.

Other than the two goats (who in the time it had taken the trio to sit down had somehow consumed some of their drinks respectively), the bar was populated by the barman, who was banging around in the back, which was punctuated by the bleats of yet another goat, there were two older wizards sitting smoking their pipe in the corner of the pub, there was a man wrapped entirely in bandages who was gingerly lifting a glass to his lips, and there was a witch dressed in a white shroud who was filling the air with a familiar scenting smoke. Before Harry could place it however, Hermione brought his attention back to the situation in hand.

"Ok Harry, I just sounded out a few people who might be interested in hearing what you've got to say." She told him boldly, but there was something about the way that she was fidgeting that made Harry look at her dangerously.

"Just how many is a few Hermione?" he asked dangerously, and Ron wondered if for a change he was going to have to play the mediator, especially if Harry started yelling again.

"Just a few, honest!" she insisted, not meeting his eyes, and Harry glared at her.

"Hermione…" he began warningly, but before he could interrogate her any further, the door opened, revealing a host of Hogwarts students.

First was Neville, who was followed by Dean and Ginny. Fred, George and their friend Lee entered next, followed by the three chasers, Angelina, Alicia and Katie. Next was a very furtive looking Colin Creevey, who had somehow managed to smuggle his younger brother Dennis out of the castle, who wasn't even of the age to be at Hogsmeade yet. Then there was a group of Hufflepuffs that the Gryffindors were friendly with, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchey, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones along with another boy who Harry recognised from quidditch but had never spoken to, who had a snooty expression on his face. Then there was Cho and her friend Marietta (who looked rather angry at being here), and despite every weird thing that had been going on in his head lately Harry still felt his stomach flutter when he saw her. There were three Ravenclaw boys, the one of whom Harry was fairly sure was seeing Ginny, not that he enlightened Ron to that fact. The Patil twins entered next with Lavender in tow. Luna then breezed in, looking quite as odd as she always did, but seemed quite content. But lastly, there was Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass, both of whom were Slytherins.

"A few people?" Harry hissed, and Hermione shrugged apologetically as Fred organised drinks for everyone, to the bemusement of the barman, and of the goats at the bar, who bleated at all the ruckus the influx of people had caused.

"And two Slytherins? I bet they go straight back to Umbridge!" Ron snarled, and Hermione bit her lip, looking concerned.

"Well I thought that too, but Nott overheard me talking to Susan and Hannah. After I finished with them, he called me over, and he seemed genuinely interested, and you can imagine what it's like for him, you know, mini Death Eater speaking to a filthy mudblood like me, but he said he'd mention it to Daphne too. I couldn't refuse him, he seemed like he wanted to hear what you have to say. Though I do admit, it is odd." She mused, and Harry sent Nott a cautionary look as he sat down beside Daphne, receiving untrusting looks from the others present.

Everyone was now sitting, looking at the trio patiently, as though waiting for them to speak. Ron gently nudged Hermione with his foot, and that seemed to bring her back to herself, and she got to her feet, looking nervously around at everyone, but eyes tended to flit back between her and Harry.

"Um hi," she began rather feebly, and unlike the gentle nudge Ron had given her, a disgruntled Harry kicked her in the back of the leg, "ow! Hi. See Harry had the idea," she began hesitantly, only to receive another kick, to which she snapped a quick glare in his direction, "ok, I had the idea that perhaps we need to take a different approach to Defence Against the Dark Arts. Ever since Umbridge arrived, we've learned less than we learned with Lockhart," she continued, her voice strengthening as everyone smiled when she bashed Umbridge, "and I think we're past the point of book learning, so maybe we should just, you know, do it ourselves? Nobody in their right mind can call those lessons, and that's just the problems with her as a teacher, never mind anything else, and if this keeps up, I mean most of you, like us, are sitting OWLs this year, if not NEWTs, and how on earth are we meant to pass them if we can't actually do the spells?" she reasoned, and Ernie nodded in agreement.

"Exactly right Hermione, I'm astounded that someone so incredibly moronic has been made our teacher, especially when this year we're sitting OWLs. Has she let anyone use practical spells in class?" he asked to the group in general, and Harry finally spoke for the first time.

"No, and she isn't going to. Apparently Fudge and Umbridge think that Dumbledore and the other teachers are training us for war, to overthrow Fudge's Ministry and put Dumbledore as Minister, so they don't want us learning any practical magic in case we're used as some sort of wizard army." He explained, to shouts of indignation from everyone present.

"That's ridiculous. After all, Fudge has an army of heliopaths, they would wipe us out." Luna chipped in most unhelpfully, but Hermione swiftly intervened before anyone could ask her what these heliopaths were.

"As I was saying though, Umbridge is actively preventing us from learning any defensive magic, and with the way she's going, and now that she's High Inquisitor and already has McGonagall on probation-"

"That was sickening. Professor McGonagall is one of the best teachers in the school." Daphne hissed, to hearty nods of approval and smiles at her comment.

"Chances are she's going to stop us learning practical magic throughout the entire school if she manages to take over, which is most likely her endgame. But, learning defence isn't just about grades, or even defying Umbridge. It's all the more important now, more so than ever before," she said, her voice strengthening, and everyone looked at both her and Harry with rapt attention on their faces, "because now, Lord Voldemort is back."

The reactions of the group were quite amusing really. Marietta shrieked and spilt butterbeer down herself, Ernie gasped, Neville gave a half shudder, and Theo glared darkly at the room, well more so than he had already been doing.

"Who says?" the Hufflepuff Harry didn't know demanded rather rudely, which seemed to throw Hermione off, but Ron intervened.

"Dumbledore says, or did you not pay attention at the end of term feast?" he challenged angrily, though the boy sneered down his nose at Ron.

"Yeah but Dumbledore only says so because he says so," he complained, pointing at Harry, "how do we know it's true?"

"Who is this guy?" Ron demanded angrily of the room at large, but the boy responded himself, looking more snooty than before.

"Zacharias Smith. So, out with it then, how do we know he's back?" he challenged, and Harry got to his feet, temper flaring once again.

"Because I saw him ok? I saw him, I saw him come back to his body, and I saw him murder Cedric." He ground out, and Ron and Hermione exchanged a look, worried about what way this could wind up going, "but if that's all you turned up for, if that's all any of you turned up for, you can go now, because I'm not talking about it again, if it was good enough for Dumbledore, it can be good enough for the rest of you." He snarled, and Smith looked somewhat cowed and wisely went quiet, though whether that was down to Harry's outburst or the very dangerous looks on the face of the twins and Ron, he wasn't sure.

"So-" Hermione said hesitantly, trying to move past the awkwardness, "are we all agreed that we want Harry to teach us?" she asked, and Harry glared at her, and was ready to leave without being made a further spectacle of when Nott spoke up.

"He has seen the Dark Lord return." He said in his soft voice, and it occurred to Harry that he had never heard him speak before.

In fact, he had never had much to do with the two Slytherins who were inexplicably present at this meeting. Nott was a tall stringy black haired boy, though Harry hadn't had any direct dealings with him like he had with Malfoy and his cronies, indicating that he disassociated himself from his fellow fifth years. With cold grey eyes, and dark hair falling into his eyes, he clearly had a hint of Black in him somewhere along the line, and his eyes were burning with an intense glower but strangely, as he looked at Harry he saw a measure of respect for him burning there. Greengrass was another Slytherin who they hadn't really encountered much of, despite her being part of Parksinson's peers. A blonde girl, with her hair a more natural sheen of blond than Malfoy's, she, as opposed to the other Slytherin girls in the year, actually looked quite pleasant. She had brown eyes, and there wasn't as much naked cruelty in them as there was in the others of her year group. In fact, Harry now considered that he rarely saw these two, they apparently didn't rub shoulders with Malfoy and his little gang and kept themselves separate from the group, and if rumours were to be believed, they had their own little group between the two of them that was becoming more than friendship.

"Sorry?" Harry asked in surprise, after all, it was rather out of character for any Slytherin to take his side in anything, let alone actively defend him.

Theodore gave Harry a measured look, and with a look of encouragement from Daphne, gave a sigh and pressed forward.

"My father saw him there that night, apparently the Dark Lord was less than pleased that you escaped." He informed him, quietly sipping his butterbeer while Harry reeled from the fact that a Slytherin was here, defending him to others, over his own father and the Dark Lord who most of them seemed to want to join.

The rest of the group were now looking at Nott with just as much interest as they had been at Harry, which Hermione capitalised upon to retake the meeting back into a direction of which she approved of.

"So, now that that's all settled," she began, throwing Zacharias a filthy look, which was mirrored on the faces of the Weasleys, Ernie, Neville, Cho and even Luna, "are we agreed we want to learn from Harry?" she asked, but once again it was Zacharias who interrupted her.

"Wouldn't we be better learning from you? You are the best in the year after all, everyone knows it." He said, and while Hermione tried to look indignant that he had insulted both Harry and interrupted her, she did look slightly mollified, but it was Ginny who came to his defence.

"Aren't you listening? We need to learn, sure, no question. But we also need to learn what it's like to fight Death Eaters, to fight him! And until he comes into the open and we get rid of Umbridge, we're not going to get that. Now, if you shut up, Harry can talk!"

"And if not, we've got this and we're dying for an opportunity to try it out and we're not too fussy where we stick it!" Fred hissed menacingly, revealing a rather wicked looking instrument that Zacharias eyed with trepidation before wisely going quiet.

Hermione looked hopefully at Harry, and feeling slightly nervous, he got to his feet.

"Look, I'm not saying I'm great at this stuff, not at all. Yeah I fought Voldemort," he began, but this time Neville interrupted.

"You saved the psychological stone in first year!" he chimed in excitedly, and Hermione looked at him in slight exasperation.

"Philosopher's Stone Neville." She scolded, and Ginny then looked at Harry happily.

"He saved me not only from the giant basilisk that was in the Chamber but also the fragment of You-Know-Who's soul that tried to kill me in your second year, he killed the snake with the sword in Dumbledore's office." She reminded, and Terry Boot looked at him in shock.

"Blimey, we knew you saved the school but we didn't know how!" he exclaimed as everyone looked at him, thoroughly impressed.

"You can cast a corporeal Patronus too can't you?" Susan asked, and the phrase niggled in his mind from his hearing.

"Do you know Amelia Bones by any chance?" he asked, and she grinned.

"She's my auntie. And when she told us about your hearing, she said she would have refused to throw you out of school simply because you could do that. And I heard someone in your third year made all the Dementors retreat with a very powerful Patronus." She told him, and he went a little red, and Lee looked at him incredulously.

"Wait, you banished all the Dementors? That's seriously impressive, I didn't know that!" he cried, and George grinned.

"Yeah, mum warned Ron on pain of no food all summer not to go spreading that round, she said Harry gets enough attention." He quirked, and Harry scowled slightly.

"Too true." He complained, and the others laughed.

"And then you fought through every foul task last year too, dragons, merpeople, acromantula during the tournament…" Cho began, and then Theo looked up at him with a measured respect.

"And of course, you duelled _him_ one on one." He concluded as everyone looked at him in awe, and he fidgeted slightly, feeling very self-conscious but also rather pleased with himself.

"Ok, yeah I did all that stuff, but I always had help of some sort, and…and at the end of it, it still doesn't help. This is Voldemort we're talking about. It's not just about learning the spells and hoping for the best. You need to be able to fight, because at the end of the day, Voldemort, his Death Eaters, they don't care that we're kids. They don't care we're underage. Look what they did to Cedric. At the end of the day, they're evil and won't give a damn if we get in the way. They won't hesitate to kill you, but I'd much rather we could defend ourselves against an attack that is going to come at some point than sit in the school pretending nothing's wrong like Umbridge wants us to. Enough people have died already, and I know more will. But the Ministry, and Umbridge, are making us into defenceless targets and I'd rather the people who can and want to fight, rather than waiting for Voldemort to knock on all our doors and open it with a killing curse and a smile." He said fiercely, the emotions roiling beneath the surface leaving everyone in no doubt as to who was in charge, and as to how he felt. He'd seen it, felt it, felt the horrors the Dark Arts could inflict, and he was determined that if he had anything to say about it, it wouldn't happen without a fight

Both Ron and Hermione sent Harry a very proud look as he sat back down, Ron's eyes lingering on Harry for a second longer than necessary before he turned to the group with an expectant smile on his face.

"So…who's in?" he asked, and Hermione grinned as they all began to sign the parchment she had brought with her, some with great gusto, like Ernie, some with slight trepidation, like Zacharias, and some with quiet conviction like Theo and Daphne.

After sorting out everyone's squabble about quidditch practices and how these meetings couldn't clash with any team practice, and swearing everyone to absolute secrecy, particularly from Umbridge, the group dispersed and Hermione looked very pleased as they headed away from the Hog's Head, unheeding of the man in bandages and the woman in the veil both eagerly making their escape from the bar after them.

"That was brilliant Harry." She said happily, and Harry grinned a little, while Ron scowled.

"That Zacharias guy is a wart." He grumbled, he had been this close to cursing the arrogant stuck up…

"You're right, I don't like him much either. But Nott and Greengrass, the two of them are…interesting." She said diplomatically, and Harry mused on the two of them as they headed through Hogsmeade.

"I bet they'll turn us in first chance they get." Ron said sourly, but to his and Hermione's surprise, Harry actually shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. I think they actually mean well, strange as it sounds. Doesn't mean we won't watch them, but, I think they genuinely wanted to be there." He mused, and Hermione grinned as she heard him say it.

"Well, there may be hope of interhouse unity yet. Where did this newfound optimism come from?" she teased and he grinned, shouldering her slightly.

"Well I cant be a surly teenager all the time can I?" he asked, and Ron grinned.

"Why break the habit of a lifetime?" he taunted, and Harry made to grab him as he scarpered out of his best friend's reach, making Hermione roll her eyes till Ron used her as a shield.

"Oh no you don't! You're not roping me into this craziness." She said with dignity, until Ron messed up her hair, and Harry stood there taunting her, her eyes flashing while a predatory smile developed on her face.

"Oh it's on." She hissed and the three friends enjoyed their time off and made the most of their time together.

XX

"Albus! Albus!" McGonagall yelled as she burst into his office urgently, her heart hammering.

"In a minute!" Dumbledore snapped grumpily, and despite the seriousness of the situation, she was slightly amused by having interrupted the headmaster at the present moment and put him off his stride as it were.

"What's all the fuss Minerva?" Flitwick asked as he, Sprout and Snape entered the study, having been summoned by McGonagall previously, allowing McGonagall to flick her wand at the door to make it imperturbable before turning to Fawkes.

"Could you give us a warning if she appears?" she asked, and the magnificent bird gave a doleful nod before vanishing in a burst of flame as Dumbledore entered his study proper.

"What is it, did a Dementor?" he began, fury kindling in his eyes, but she shook her head.

"No, nothing like that, Septima and Bathseda kept them from the returning students. It's rather worse actually. I went to town to keep an eye, as you asked, and Mundungus was there," she began, and Snape looked dismissive.

"Furthering the black market in his own unique way undoubtedly." He sneered, which she had to admit was a fair point.

"And he was keeping an eye on Harry like we asked and tipped me off. So, naturally, with him having barely survived an expulsion attempt so far and with Umbridge determined to seize total control of the school, naturally the first thing he, Granger and Weasley do with their weekend off is decide to unite a group of students to follow a non-Ministry approved curriculum and to learn Defence Against the Dark Arts." She told them, and silence reigned for a second as the others present absorbed this news.

"Well good for them!" Sprout said heartily, as Dumbledore closed his eyes, a slight smile on his face.

"Well ordinarily Pomona, you would be correct but unfortunately with the Ministry interfering the way it is, it could be very bad, especially if Umbridge should find out." He told her, and her proud expression fell from her face while McGonagall pinched her nose tiredly.

"She asked me if students were allowed to go to the Hog's Head…I should have known she was up to something." Flitwick complained, while Snape looked livid.

"This is quite possibly the last thing that we need headmaster, they're bound to get caught, and when they do the consequences could be disastrous. Though perhaps I shouldn't expect anything less from Potter, his head is rather overinflated with ideas of his own importance, and as for the rest of the Gryffindors…" he began with his usual assassination of Harry's character (bearing in mind none of the other staff saw this in Harry (true he annoyed McGonagall but that was his propensity to try and get himself killed every few weeks despite her attempts to protect him)), but McGonagall, as much to end Snape's tirade and to get her own back, took deep pleasure in interrupting him.

"Actually Severus I think you'll be pleased to know that there were two Slytherins present at this meeting, as well as Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws." She said sweetly, and he looked at her in blank shock for a second, and was sure she heard Dumbledore snigger behind her slightly.

"S-Slytherin students?" Snape asked in disbelief, as McGonagall savoured her victory, grinning like the Cheshire version of her Animagus form, while Sprout and Flitwick looked similarly delighted.

"Yes, Mr Nott and Miss Greengrass as it happens. What was it you were saying?" she taunted, and he spluttered incoherently, completely thrown for six to her great satisfaction, allowing the heads of house to face Dumbledore.

"We must take care to ensure that this group is not discovered by Umbridge, if she finds them it will be disastrous." Dumbledore mused, and McGonagall looked at him worriedly.

"Well I agree but wouldn't it be a better idea for you to talk to Harry, he respects you, he'll listen to you. While I think that this group is quite admirable like you say it carries with it far too much of a risk if Umbridge catches them." She mused, and Dumbledore nodded.

"We will need to do what we can, obviously acting too soon will only arouse suspicion. We will wait, and make our move then." He decided, making McGonagall purse her lips in slight irritation, but after all he was right, they couldn't act till they had proof. "Now Severus," Dumbledore continued, smiling widely, "I wonder just how you plan to justify the presence of two of your own house at a meeting so scandalous, rubbing shoulders with Harry and his associates?" he asked, his eyes twinkling and the other three members of staff laughed while Snape looked furious.

XX

The next morning Harry woke from a rather bizarre dream involving a swarm of Dementors, him cruising Hogsmeade in Mr Weasley's flying Ford Anglia, and Hermione and Ron posing as characters from Grease. Deciding that he clearly needed more sleep, to be free of the Dementors, and possibly new friends (he vaguely recalled them dancing in the dream and a few bars of Greased Lightning) he headed downstairs to find Ron and Neville (his honour guard this morning apparently as Hermione had made sure there was always two people to back him up should the Dementors try their nonsense) looking darkly at the notification board.

"What's up?" Harry asked as he looked at the two of them, trying and failing not to picture Ron in a leather jacket dancing on the bonnet of the Ford Anglia, and having to suppress a smirk as a result.

"She knows." Neville hissed, and alarmed suddenly, Harry looked over at the notice board, and red hot anger filled him as he read the large poster that was now blocking out all the other notices.

 _By Order of the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts_

 _All student organisations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded_

 _An organisation, society, team, group or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students_

 _Permission to reform may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge)_

 _No student organisation, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor_

 _Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organisation, society, team, group or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled_

 _The above is in accordance with Education Decree Number Twenty Four_

 _Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor_

"This can't be a coincidence, there's just no way." Neville muttered darkly as two second years fretted about gobstones in front of them, and Harry glared darkly at the decree, yet again Umbridge was out to make his life more miserable and more difficult.

"You reckon someone tipped her off?" Ron hissed, and Harry mulled it over, while Neville pondered likely suspects.

"Way I see it, it'll be Nott, Greengrass or possibly that Smith guy, he's a snake." He complained, and Harry, too busy trying to figure out all the angles, snarled a swear word under his breath.

"She knows either way. And it might not be a student, there were other people in that pub, they might have listened in. We need to let Hermione know." He decided, figuring she could figure out their next move, and Ron nodded, and the two darted off, starting to climb the stairs to the girls dormitory, Harry right behind him.

However when Ron reached the sixth step, a loud klaxon like sound started to blare which seemed to prompt the stairs into turning into a slide. Ron and Harry windmilled their arms to try and keep upright but in the end gravity won out and the two of them toppled down the slide, coming to a stop at the bottom, Ron landing awkwardly on top of Harry while Neville roared with laughter at their current predicament.

"Whee! Who tried to get upstairs?" a third year girl giggled as she slid down to the bottom of the slide quite elegantly while Harry tried to extricate himself from Ron's abnormally long limbs, Neville of course being as much use as an umbrella in a monsoon as he was still laughing at their misfortune.

"We did! It's not fair," Ron grunted, accidentally poking Harry in the stomach with his elbow as they finally unknotted themselves from each other, "Hermione barges into our rooms, and after that time last year, the least we can do is get even with her!" he complained, and Harry gratefully took the hand he offered to help him up.

"What time last year?" he asked curiously, and Ron went red and started to splutter as Hermione whizzed down beside them, a steely glare on her face.

"Something we promised never to speak of again," she snapped, glaring at Ron, who looked a tad abashed, "and it was done by the founders, they didn't think it was a good idea for a load of hormonal teenage boys to get into the rooms of a load of hormonal teenage girls. Yes I know it's sexist, but it is what it is, it says so in _Hogwarts: A History_ , Why were you trying to get up there anyway, because I sincerely doubt it's to try and have your wicked way with one of the girls in here?" she teased, and her two best friends glared at her, while Neville drew her attention to the new decree.

Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously as she read it, her fury matching that of Harry's sans the embarrassment he was currently feeling.

"So, you think we've been betrayed?" he asked her darkly, and her eyes flashed dangerously.

"Believe me, if someone sold us out to Umbridge, we'll know who it was and acne will look like heaven in comparison." She hissed, and with that swept from the common room, the three boys rapidly on her heels as she did so.

No sooner were they out of the common room than two Dementors, who were being eyed warily by the Fat Lady, started drifting towards them, and Harry felt the familiar coldness begin to grow as they approached. Fortunately Professor Sinistra, her face clouded with worry, entered the corridor and raised her wand threateningly and they had the good sense to retreat, allowing the four students to pass down to breakfast without further incident.

However as soon as they entered the Great Hall, the other people they had recruited all turned to face them, some of them trying to come over.

"For god sake, sit down!" Hermione mouthed, and with discreet gestures and mouthing they managed to get the others to go back to their seats, but a look at the staff table to see Umbridge watching carefully gave them an inkling they weren't out of the woods just yet.

"Well?" Ron asked, and Hermione shook her head, her brow furrowed.

"Nobody sold us out, we'd be able to tell, everyone's face is the way it's meant to be, even the two Slytherins and Smith. So is it just coincidence or does she actually know, and if she does, who told her?" she asked while getting herself some porridge, her face clouded with worry.

"But how could they have told her without triggering the jinx you put on the parchment? Anyway, are we still doing it Harry?" Fred asked, and Harry looked to see Umbridge was pouring gratuitous amounts of honey and sugar onto her porridge (Snape, who had the misfortune to be sitting beside her, gave it a look of deepest disapproval before sprinkling a bit salt on his own and proceeding to ignore his companion).

"Course we are." He muttered, and George clapped him proudly on the arm.

"Knew you'd say that, you know, we should dye your hair red, you have all the Weasley traits and stubbornness, and you're already practically one of the family, might as well make it official." He reasoned, and Harry blushed a little as he set about his breakfast.

Up at the staff table, McGonagall leaned close to Dumbledore, her mouth thin as she had read the new decree that was announced in the Prophet over the shoulder of Professor Vector.

"This isn't a coincidence Albus." She warned darkly, and he nodded, looking musingly up at the ceiling as he did so.

"I'm inclined to agree Minerva, but is it not coincidental in terms of being an actual coincidence, or is it merely coincidental that it is a coincidence?" he asked, a slight smile on his lips as he did so, and his deputy looked confused for a minute before glaring at him irritably.

"Talk sense Albus, this is serious! Besides, she's bound to have noticed those students trying to talk to Potter, she's not that stupid." She pointed out, as Terry Boot was still trying to get Harry's attention, and Dumbledore nodded.

"Correct. I'm wondering though if this new decree is in response to my interference in the matter of quidditch practice security or because she knows what transpired at the Hog's Head." He mused, and McGonagall went quiet as she considered herself, the timings would match after all, and she wouldn't put it past Umbridge to be so petty that she had to get Fudge to give her yet more power in order to get at the students.

"Good question." She muttered, and Dumbledore nodded, his eyes flicking briefly towards Umbridge who was licking her lips in excitement, clearly anticipating going in for the kill in some regard, which did not fill him with the slightest bit of confidence at all.

XX

Despite it being a Monday, the day had passed with fairly little incident, which made quite a change considering how things have been recently. Everything was going well until Defence Against the Dark Arts, when Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down at their tables, and Umbridge strolled up to them, a malicious smile on her face, which made Harry's insides go cold.

"Tell me Mr Potter, did you understand the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty Four?" she asked in a voice of poisoned honey, and Harry felt a sudden flutter of panic, she did know about the defence group, someone had sold them out, and now she was moving in for the kill.

Despite that however he forced down the rising wave of panic and returned her stare with interest.

"Yes I understood it." He said defiantly, and she cocked her head slightly, and as her cardigan of the day had a fluffy pink collar it made her look even more loathsome than usual.

"Well then Mr Potter, I'm confused. If you understood it, why have you not come to pay me a visit?" she asked, and Harry was tempted to retort that spending any more time with her than he had to was detrimental for his health and future, and risky for her as she might just fall out a window with him present.

But as he thought about it, the more he became convinced that she couldn't know that they still planned to study Defence Against the Dark Arts, no, she was aiming for something else, and judging by the look of sheer venomous joy on her face she was moving in for the kill.

"For what?" he asked, genuinely at sea, and she smirked.

"Well Mr Potter, under the terms of the decree, anyone involved in a group that consists of three or more persons needs the permission of the High Inquisitor to continue. And you three fall under that category." She told him sweetly, and he looked at her in disbelief.

"What?" he asked, as both Ron and Hermione started to grow angry themselves, and Umbridge smiled deviously, clearly very proud of herself.

"What I mean is, the three of you together continually undermine the aims of the Ministry and the education of your classmates with your attention seeking little tales and nasty lies. Numerous professors throughout the school see you as the golden trio, which as far as I am concerned Mr Potter, makes you an official team. And as such, you haven't come to me to ask for my permission for the three of you to continue to fraternise."

"Wait, you're dictating who we're friends with now?" Seamus demanded angrily, surprising Harry slightly by coming to his defence, and Umbridge smiled.

"Well, actually Mr Finnegan, I am. Under the terms of Education Decree Number Twenty Four I, as the High Inquisitor, I have the authority to disband any team, club, organisation or society of three or more people. And, as you all do homework together, that makes you homework groups, and as such, I have control whether or not you remain that way." She told him smugly, and Harry was so taken aback by the idiocy of this latest attempt to get under his skin that he just sat in bewildered disbelief for a second.

"I'm waiting Potter." She hissed, her voice sickeningly sweet, and he tried to morph his face into as polite an expression as he could manage.

"Professor, could Ron, Hermione and I continued to work together?" he asked, and she gave him a sickening smile.

"I think not Potter. I want you at the desk in front of my own, Weasley you stay here, and Miss Granger, I want you to swap with Mr Thomas, split up the other trio in here." She purred, and it was with a great deal of noise that the four students, hating Umbridge, carried out her wishes, all of them clearly longing to slit her throat while she stood there smiling smugly in her fluffy pink cardigan.

"You see Mr Potter, at the end of the day, the choice is really yours. You either do exactly as I say, or I will take away every single little thing you enjoy." She hissed at him on the way past, savouring the sight of Harry digging his fingernails into his palm to refrain from snatching his wand and ridding the world of the loathsome woman for ever.

XX

And so it continued. In the Great Hall at dinner, Harry sat beside Fred while George who along with his twin had been split from Lee was sitting next to Alicia, while Hermione sat beside Neville, and Ron sat beside Ginny as the evil old crone smiled smugly down at them from the staff table. On the plus side, Umbridge wasn't just gunning for the Gryffindors that hung out in groups of three or more, Ernie Macmillan, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who usually all hung out as a four had been split up over dinner, as had the three Ravenclaw boys who had attended the meeting. Over on the Slytherin table however, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Parksinson and Bulstrode were all still together, looking supremely smug.

"Well of course when I realised that the new decree applied to groups of friends as well, I went straight to Professor Umbridge this morning and asked if we could all still hang out together. Of course, she granted it right away, I mean my father's always seeing her when he visits the Ministry, and after all, unlike certain people we aren't brain damaged, problem students out for a bit of attention. I bet you she gets Potter thrown in the crackpot ward of St Mungos, you know the place where they're too brain dead to even feed themselves without someone to shovel it in, before the end of the year, haha…" Malfoy gloated from his table, but immediately alerted to what could happen Harry's eyes darted to Neville, who was going red with suppressed anger, but as long as he stayed put…

Malfoy then stopped his gleeful taunting and boasting. He looked slightly shell-shocked, and raised his hand to eye level to see it blowing up in size like an inflating balloon. Everyone began to laugh as he started to swell in size, similar to what Aunt Marge had done two years previously. Harry watched in a kind of fascinated delight as Malfoy puffed out like a balloon, swelling to immeasurable size, his buttons popping off his shirt, a large tear ripping down his trousers as he got larger and larger, his friends looking up in shock, and there was some delight, while the rest of the hall broke into roars of laughter as Malfoy swelled to an immense size, starting to float up towards the ceiling.

"What is the meaning of this?" Umbridge screeched, rushing to the Slytherin table, looking furious, but fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how vindictive you were, Flitwick reached the table first (and there was the barest hint of a smile as he observed Malfoy's predicament) as he had just entered for his own dinner, and after contemplating for a second, waved his wand, and with a noise like air escaping a balloon, which promptly made everyone laugh even harder, Malfoy deflated and floated down to ground again, spluttering in incoherent rage.

"There you are Mr Malfoy, I suggest you go back and change before finishing your dinner." Flitwick said, mostly kindly, though it seemed like a small part of him had enjoyed Malfoy getting what he deserved.

Malfoy looked furious, his slick blond hair was now a tangled mess, his trousers had split and were now hanging around his ankles, displaying his green silk boxers, his shirt was hanging loosely off him and he was scarlet as the entire school was laughing at him as they were now seeing him in his underwear in the middle of the Great Hall, where nothing could hide him. He hurriedly yanked Crabbe and Goyle to their feet, hissed something at them when they protested about leaving their food, and the two of them flanked him and tried to preserve his modesty as they escorted him from the hall, with the usual protests from Malfoy about his father hearing about this ringing in the hall as they left the room.

"Who did this?" Umbridge snarled, turning her attention to the Gryffindor table, where everyone was now trying to change their faces into a serious expression to try to dissipate the inevitable temper tantrum.

"If I might Professor Umbridge, what happened to Mr Malfoy was clearly the result of an emotional backlash, if anyone is to blame for his predicament it is him himself, whatever he was doing immediately beforehand precipitated someone to have an emotional reaction that they had no control over." He explained, and suddenly Ron realised who was going to get the blame for what happened to Malfoy.

Umbridge turned her doughy, malicious eyes onto Harry, who opened his mouth furiously, realising, just as Ron had, that she was going to blame him.

"Detention Potter, for another week, such attacks against other students will not be tolerated!" she stormed, and Flitwick, who was looking at her incredulously, blinked a little before coming to Harry's defence.

"Professor Umbridge, as I said, what happened to Malfoy was a result of whatever he was doing, and whoever did so to him had an uncontrollable violent reaction brought on by strong emotion. As such, while regrettable, there was nothing any student could have done about it. And besides, what evidence do you have that it was Potter?" he demanded angrily, his eyes flicking towards Harry.

"Not least the longstanding animosity against Mr Malfoy on Potter's part," she whispered in a silky voice, and Harry looked even more outraged than we already had, "but his constant displays of temper that he has indulged in since his return from the holidays, and his past record of using such magic against his muggle aunt two years ago as well. So Potter, detention once again. And what is more, you will also write a letter of formal apology to Mr Malfoy!" she crowed triumphantly, and Flitwick looked flabbergasted as Harry shook in rage at the sheer injustice once more being committed against him.

XX

"I'm so sorry Harry, I couldn't control myself, he just…" Neville said miserably as they all sat by the fireplace later that night, locked safely in their common room the one place where they could at least manage some escape from the tyranny of Dolores Umbridge.

"It's not your fault Neville, no matter what happens, she's always going to blame me." Harry snarled, glaring into the fire, wishing more than ever Sirius would appear and at least give him someone to complain to (though asking him to actually commit a murder for him was sounding more appealing by the minute).

The entire room was sitting looking entirely miserable, and there was little talking. Umbridge's tyranny was slowly destroying every single little thing enjoyable about Hogwarts, and a deep sense of depression was seeming to permeate the room.

"What do we do?" Hermione asked miserably, rubbing her forehead tiredly as she inspected the wound Harry had sustained in his most recent detention, now saying 'I must maintain control of my temper'.

Ron looked musingly out the window, and with a small smile, turned to Harry.

"Well, you know how you and You Know Who are connected? Well way I figure it, he owes you, I mean he killed your parents, put you in for the tournament, used your blood to come back, why not write to him?" he asked with a slight grin, and the sheer absurdity of the suggestion lightened Harry's mood a little.

"What, and write to him and ask him to take out Umbridge for us? 'Dear Voldemort'," he began reciting, sniggering as the others all winced, "'since you killed my parents and have made my life a constant misery, I wonder if you could do me a favour? We have this atrocious woman teaching us Defence Against the Dark Arts, and she's even more evil than you. Could you possibly kill her for us, after all, soon she's going to be known as She Who Must Not Be Named and that won't look too good for you now will it? So please bump her off for us, and I promise I'll not get in the way of your new master plan to take over the wizarding world. Yours sincerely, Harry Potter.' Would that work?" he asked, and they all laughed, and they all mused on how Voldemort might reply to such a message.

As they all mused on this though, Ginny was the one who jerked them out of their reverie.

"You realise that Malfoy is going to be even more insufferable than usual since she's making you write that letter? And that she's only going to get worse herself, especially if she has it in for you personally." She warned, and they all nodded.

"Yeah. But it doesn't matter, because the first quidditch match of the season is coming up, so we can humiliate Malfoy there. And we can use our defence group to undermine Umbridge. They can beat us down, keep stomping on us, but they aren't going to win." Harry vowed, and Ron and Hermione looked at him with a kind of fierce approval.

"Hasn't she won already though?" Neville asked worriedly, and Harry shook his head.

"No Neville. Not yet she hasn't," Harry said, his eyes glinting angrily, "not my a long shot."

 **Salutations! A thousand apologies for how long this took to upload, my last laptop was on its way out, hooked up to ivs and drips and power lines and all sorts of things, and the fact that I didnt trust it not to totally die on me mid stride was the main reason for not getting any stories updated or uploaded in basically the last year, so apologies for that. However, for those of you still interested in this story, I am back and dont plan for there to be nearly so long a gap this time!**

 **So, due to my long absence, Umbridge has become even more petty and vindictive and she is just getting started. But while everyone's most hated teacher is currently suppressing all forms of resistance, Harry and the others, which now includes two Slytherins, are preparing to rebel against her regime**

 **Many thanks if you have stayed with this story, it will be updated again soon, quidditch, Hagrid and of course even more power grabbing by Umbridge to come but until then, please read and if it isnt asking too much after my long absence, please review too!**


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